The Labor enquirer., 1886-12-18
The LITTLE JOLT.
A Child Under the Wheels Of
!. the Marquis Turnout
is Not Socialism; ~
But Dagger in the Heart Of
the Brutal AristO. We
..-. z,
crat Is.
1t Is Strange How Little Talented
People Know Of the Times In
Which They Live.

When the Chicago Inter Ocean an
nounces an article on Socialism, enti.
tied THE Little JOLT" by Elizabeth
Stuart Phelps, Socialist is liable to in.
vest some of the cents which he has not
yet divided with the capitalist, in buy
ing paper to see what idea an elite
writer has of Socialism. The discovery
follows, that this writer, like all people
who do not become Socialists from hav.
ing studied the subject, utterly fails to
comprehend, and also to fairly critlcise
Socialism.
What has little jolt" to do with So
cialisn? The marquis is driving
through narrow lane at rapid pace,
careless of the poor people all around.
The scene is described bv Dickens in his
Tale of Two Cities" and is laid in
FIR tnce just before the Revolution.
Suddenly the carriage came to lit
tie sickening jolt" 1t was child un-
der the wheels. Nov, the incident Of
running over and killing the child is not
Socialism, according to, Elizabeth Stuart
Phelps. But the marquis is found later
with dagger IN his heart, placed there
by the father of the dead child, This
is Socialism. The revenge visited upon
the rich by the poor, for indignities
committed by the latter in their super
cilious carlessness, is Socialism. II the
rich would only be kidd to the poor.
there would be no Socialism.
Saws our transcendental writer:
"Who knows how far the public discon-
tent has been fed by the washerwoman\
whom l forgot to psy2 Or the shop
girl to whom YOU refused the chance to
sit down from dawn to dark2 Or the
seamstress whom We underpaid? Or
the sick clerk to whom We gave no va
cationP Or the tramp to whom we
were surly ?" etc. "Somewhere the hur-
rying life has driven too fast around a
corner. Somewhere-somewhere there
has come the little JOLT"
Strange that such talented writers
have not yet caught up with the last
century, and learned the lesson of its two
Revolutions, the moving force of which
was, not tnat mobiles were kind or un]
kind, but that they were mobiles. So
cialism is this same spirit carried from
politics into economies. That certain
people injured the washerwoman, the
seamstress, the clerk and the tramp, Is
secondary to the fact that they had the
power to do it. Although such writer's
regard the stations called high and low"
as permanent, they never think of regu-
lating the relation of one to the other
by law.
The revenge which grows out of that
relation ought to prove it wrong. But
as law deals with the revenge it ought
to deal with the cause, which is careless.
ness (never stinglness) of the rich. II
the relation is to be permanent let US
have: AN Act.-To regulate the atti
tude of the rich to the poor; the object
of which is to destroy Socialism by
making the cause of it illegal. Here
after it shall be unlawful for any rich
person to be unkind to those below
them. AS the faculty of revenge lies la.
tent in every poor PERSONS mind it shall
be unlawful for a wealthy person to
sneer in the presence of any one wear.
tramp call at a fine house, he must be
ushered into the parlor and politely in
formed that the cupboard is empty, or
some similar conventional fiction.
Should he look downcast or resentful
cheerful fantasia shall be played on the
piano. Washerwomen and seamstresses
must be paid it they insist on il. When
any employe becomes ill, he shall be al
lowed to cease work temporarily. For
each offense, the penalty shall be''-etc,
etc.
The writer continues: 1T Is the
little kindnesses-it is the little cruelty
that makes or mars all the human re.
.ations."
No; it is wrong principles Of gene.
raj nature, that by their social action,
produce harmony or misery. The little
matters are but results. 1t is trlflng
wit small things that prevents many
good people from learning the great gen.
eral principles of Socialism. ZENo.