The examiner., 1886-08-21


majority. The labor question is not wholly
question of wages The religious question
is not wholly discussion of supernatural
ism and church authority. The political
question is not one of party issue or con-
test between law and the lawless. There
is a world fever of democracy, new in his
tory. The revolt of the majority means
that knowledge of the benefits of civiliza-
tion has reached the bottom of society.
They believe that within the last fifty years
science and progress have poured vast for
tunes into the lap of civilization, and they
are demanding their dividends. They
want their share now. They cannot wait.
Exhortations to patience have no effect.
Patience to them means future genera
ton.
Something stands in the way. They
have agreed that it is not nature, fate nor
God What is it Is it the states Then
the state must change go. Is it the
church Then the church must change or
go. Is it the social order =? Then because
the social order cannot go, it must be rev
olutionized.
There are whole classes and nations who
believe that they have been robbed of pro-
natal and prehistoric privileges SO that
they and their ancestors were born slaves
and vassals to the robbers. Once men suf
fered their wrongs in silence, but now they
certain catching enthusiasm for change,
which almost makes man with griev-
ance the happier for it. But this bodies i'll
for those who stand in the way. And the
revolt will move on. No human hand can
stay it. It certainly cannot be stopped by
any means external of itself. 1t has all
the characteristics of popular mania, sur
passing all others known to history. 1t is
like, but vaster, than that which moved
IoI
marking their course across two continents
with the tender bodies of those for whose
benefit they moved. Or than that which
inspired the crusades when the children
marched toward Palestine by thousands.
Civilization had begun to fatter itself, and
to say that no descent or barbarism was
again possible. 1t forgets that those whom
in scorn it calls the Ignorant lower
classes, may some day simply stand up,
and that when they do stand up, whatever
is above them must bend or break.
For good or for evil, the great expert
ment of the new democracy is to be tried
in ways undreamed of by the founders of
the American republic, and they who sup
pose that this is only passing breeze of
disGffection with the wages paid by capital
to labor, are reckoning without their host
This is but the first great ground-swell of
universal society coming at 4ast to con-
Il, d.
out of the civilization it is to disturb, a
force in motion which is to gain great mo-
mentum; to bring in its train evils new and
sore; to crush and overwhelm in its resist
less course many fair product of olden
time, but, nevertheless, to leave, when
once more society sadly pays the cost of
progress, a new hope, better chance for
man, and the beginning of a good time
WI ,ch VIII soon pass away.
About Plate Matter.
A letter from Providence printer in the
last issue of The Craftsman, the organ of
tells about the introduction of plate matter
ON the Evening Telegram in that city, and
claims that such action is lessening the
work for printers on that paper. The let
ter also states that not only on the Tele
gram, but also on the Star, "plates are
used to the injury of the compostors."
The writer finds fault with the decision of
the I. T. u, at a recent convention in
Pittsburg. when that body recognized plate
matter, and ordered that no strikes should
be made against it. The only thing that
was done was TO regulate the use of plates
IN certain ways as in the judgement of the
convention would be for the best interests
totally condemns plate matter and the
action of the convention in endorsing it.
He says: 81 assure you that l am no an
archisG, in the strict sense OF the word, but
in regard to plate factories, | do dot lie
when I say that would like to wake up
some day and hear the glad news that
every one of them had been burned to the
ground during the night, and l know, for a
fact that there are great many others of
the same m:nd.''
He no doubt speaks the truth when he
gives utterances to this outrageous senti-
ment and claims that he has companions
in his belief. The use of plates will, how
vaporing. If the ''plate factories we're all
burned to the ground, tomorrow, they, or
others would be running the day after,
and at an increased rate of production.
This is undeniably true, as plates are sim
ply labor saving devices, and because of
the greater facilities they afford, and the
consequent gain in money and time they
machinery that greatly cheapens produc-
ton can be killed by few ignorant men
who can't see any further than the ends of
their own noses, and who imagine that
their own petty self-'nterest is going to
suffer unless they can prevent the world
revolving.
Improvements in machinery, it is true,
ingmen that they should have done. This
has been acknowledged by many thinkers
and observing men. But the necessity for
the organization of labor societies, for
short hour movements, for lator legsla-
tion, grows out of that very fact. The
present industrial agitation, as far as the
platfol ms of the labor organizations go, is
directed largely to the points of securing
the benefits resulting from thece FIN
provements'' for the whole people instead
of portion. But individual members of
labor organizations do not always realize
these underlying principles, and many of
them are willing to contend at any time
for Temporary advantage, at the risk even
of sacrificing future good. What must
be done if they would improve their con-
dition permanently is for laborers to work
for the destruction of all monopolies
whether of land, money, opportunities, in
ventions, patent rights, or any other, that
place in the hands of one class the right to
confscate the labor of others.-The People.
The Spider and the Fly.
A cunning spider, by horrid words and
improper influences, persuaded an inno-
cent and unsophisticated fly to enter
his parlor and take a seat on his sofa.
''Now make yourself at home," said the
spider, "while I go out and make the