The Labor enquirer., 1886-11-06
DENVER COLORADO, SATURDAY. NOVEMBER 1886

alities and avested interests.n Wher
the varnish Of civilization has not "
veiled the crude savagery Of primitiv
mankind, cultured humanity is horror
, stricken to see wild man, like the Be
tocudo of South America. drag his siai
enemies to some secluded den wher
they NAV be comfortably cooked an
eaten with triumphant rejoicing. Ami
the horror-tales with which Jade
prblic refreshes its out-worn palat'
there are few more potent in their effet
than those which hea. with New Ze'
land feasts upon "long pig" Fiiian ca
rousals at which the defeated foe ful
nlshes the baked-meats to celebrate hi
own overthrow, or the terrible repast Q
some shipwrecked mariner. at the las
1 extremity. Cultured humanity shud
ders and returns thanks to God afte
its own image that 1t is not as these mel
are, and resents the truth when tolt
that "the fair show (of modern life1 veil
one vast, savage, grim conspiracyHof mu
tual murder" and that it itself subsist
thereon.
When rude races in their intertriba
conflicts find out the ease with which {
warlike stronger clan may possess itseli
of the produce of the labor of weaker
ones, war becomes readily one not o
quarrel and revenge, but of plunder and
rapine. Afterwards they awake to the
wastefulness of killing man outright ir
order to seize that which he has pro-
duced; for although he no longer re-
quires any means of subsistence, his ca
pacity for surplus-labor ends also and
civilization is advanced one step bv the
conquerer retaining possession of the
conquered and compelling him to labor
taking from him all the fruit of his toll
beyond that barely necessary to keep
him alive and enable him 10 breed
Again the wheel of progress goes for
ward, and 1t is found less profitable to
carry off captive than to lay hold of
the land upon which he lives and CON-
pei him to labor there. Thus begins the
extension of frontiers" and the growth
of empires" In each of these stages
cannibalism is full plainly perceptible
its form only has been changed. To
over his life; to take from the where
withal be lives, or part of it, is to take
from him his life in like measure. In
each stage, also, as it arises, there is
found an evergrowing tendency to the
formation of subject class-a caste sci
aside fer exploitation, to be continu'
ously plundered, tribe consecr rated to
never-ending immolation.
To dav society has long since passed
beyond the stage at which an individual
or small tribe is allowed to make open
war upon another; that Is reserved as a
special privilege of the Great Powers"
or some favored few among their pro-
teges. And yet insidiously and with
tenfold virulence the fratricidal struggle
still goes on. Where the savage termi-
mated suddenly the existence of his foe
and teasted right rovallv upon the body
which had cost so much time and labor
to sustain, the civilized monopolist
holds many men in subsection and con-
sumes t;eir lives piecemeal. He re-
places the club and spear by control OF
land and capital, and the fire or flesh
pot by the factory or the mine.
Even in the disposal of the infrm OF
aged the parallel holds. Among the
Wends in what is now Germany such
people were put to death bv the tribe,
cooked or eaten. We no longer are 80
barbarous as to subject our paupers to
"bloody murder and sudden DEATH but
cause them to endure instead the llnger
ing agoniss of slow starvation within the
cheerless walls of living tomb !
Upon the scroll of history, amid all its
bIots and stains and imperfections, there
is vet plain record of growing sense OF
the sacredness of human life. From age
to age institutions are modified anc
edapted to the changed requirements o.
The race. Mems ideas of right anc
wrong develop with their UNDERSTANDING
of the problem of existence. Private
property is becoming more and more
discredited day by day. 1t is increas
inglv manifest to the masses that thell
lives are taken from them and enjovet
by others. They see the hollow crue
sham our boasted civilization really is
The force of discomfort growing un
checked and resistless will vet shattel
thu chains that bind man under man
and forever end the man-eatlng instltn
t1ons that blight the life of humanity
even to this daV.
Only when the Social Revolution ha
been accomplished. and sill men laSor
while each enjoys the fruit of his~fabor
will man be enabled to shake off wholly
the cruelty and greed implanted in hin
by generations of wrong and degrade
tion They who come forward AM
strive for the right do even now 60 ia
to free themselves from the stigma; bu
cannibals and murderers remain, who
amid the light aud fragrance of thei
own lives, ignore the bitter bread
sweating millions and the wall of misel