The Labor enquirer., 1886-09-25

try. "Our liberties were at stakeP
Could I hesitate Young and ardent
looked forward to the time when my
infant child should have become q
school girl. a young woman. a wife and
mother. While others would recall with
pride that their fathers fought for national
liberty. she would moi hang her head
speechless. 1T was the logic of patriot
ism. In response to its dictates gladly
served in defense of "the flag Of the
free p To day l view the graves of my
comrades fallen with different emotions.
Looking back over the score of years
since I returned to enjoy perpetual
pension of water and air, the delusion
has vanished. The question is not
asked: "Did YOUR father enlist ?" Nay,
more, my doubts extend further. ask
myself for what 1 fought2 Liberty ?
Preservation of the Union? Or rath er
for the changes which every civil war
entails the enrichment of spectators
ennobled bv the patent of an army con-
tract; or. taking advantage of national
necessities, the manipulation of the
money of the country for private ends
the Capitalization of authority, the ten
dencv of industrial enterprise to concen-
trate into monopolies
TIE fallen are honored-once a year.
The survivors live to wonder at their
past delusion. In preserving the Union
we created new union-of capital. Not
that of legitimate capital with free COM
petition and equal opportunities, but en-
trenched behind legal enactments and
overriding competition through contr ol
of conditions. We enlarged the bounds
of political freedom by embracing the
emancipated freedmen as equals-in in
dustrial bondage. Through the infu-
ence of the conqueror's sword the
freedmen" owe the economic change
from the selling of the worker to the
highest bidder to the selling of his work
to the lowest bidder. We restored the
law and order with the bayonet, and
made the fashion permanent.
The industrial system of the north,
characterized by it's freedom from all re-
sponsibllity to labor, had been crossed
| in it's path by slave labor in the terrific
rles. The cry of the north, the animat-
ing soul of its system, was that fierce
struggle for precedence and advantage
miscalled competition, and carries with
it as a consequence cheap labor. Cheap
labor brought business, commercial ac-
tivity and the extension of modern civ.
ilization. The economic pressure Oe-
hind was too great to admit of compro-
mise. They were rival industrial sys-
TENS which had met in the same path,
and one must give way.
The war followed. The economic con-
ditions of life suffered violent change.
A vast army had to be clothed and fed,
and contractors found there rich har-
vest. Great loans were necessary and
speculation became incculated into the
fever of business life. The demand for
labor increased, and lists of American
wages were published in foreign lands
by our Consuls to induce immigration,
lest dearness should check production.
In this general industrial prosperity the
farmer sought share. Government
was called in to aid IN the extension of
great highways of communication.
The dominating genius of the north
private greed was iuclted by pro digal
gifts of land as indemnity for capital ad-
vanced, and the peoples heritage was
quickly swallowed up. The south failed
and reconstruction ensued. To-day,
south and north alike admit the funda-
mental principle of our industrial sys-
tenn, the corner stone of our economic
structure Free labor Is cheaper than
slave labor. EMPLOYERS without respon-
sibilities could find new fields for enter
prise when the system which entalled
responsibilities was once removed. The
south are converted; the poverty of a
factory population is no longer an east
ern popularity. The gray meets blue in
hearty unison to draw dividends and
cut coupons. They have found free labor
the cheapest. Wages still follow the old
economic law, the cost of subsistence,
and irresponsi bility for sickness and old
age follows freedom from employer to
employe. Why should not the south
have wept over Grants bier?
The civil war had opened new paths
to fortune, melted new passions, and
found means to crafty them. The same
changes which the conquest of Carthage
and Greece introduced into the Roman
republic have been introduced here.
We have had our Punic war aul see it
| followed by reckless extrayagance, prof
llgacy, and an aristocracy of wealth.
And it Is for the further extension of this
that the CRY has gone forth that the
Mormon must go
0, trusting fetlch-worshiper Have
you faith greater than that which can
remove mountains, to believe that with
your ballots you can reach and modify
the economic laws underlying even the
electoral system? Do you propose to
vote down the growth of the limbs when
YOU carefully water the roots2 Can the
ballot effact the amenities of social life,