The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-08-21
THE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM.
An Instructive and Entertaining Ad-
dress by Hon. Blanche K. Bruce.
The Three Great Forms in Which Production
Spreads Itself-Workmen Becoming Bet
ter Educated and More Self-Reliant.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal.

| the patrons OF the fair have not only been
pleased and entertained but instructed
| ALSO Hon. B. K Bruce, ex-senator from
Mississippi, and leader of his race,
in response to ajoint invitation from the associa-
| tion and the Knights of Labor of this city, to-
| day addressed an immense crowd of people upon
| the grounds. The theme Of his talk was 'The
| Pending Industrial Problem in America" He
was accorded the most respectful attention, and
was frequently applauded. Among the many
other good things. he said:
Life is energy, and finds its concretion in the
expenditure of the moral and physical forces that
| appear in a thousand varied forms upon the sur
| face of human affairs. Our cognition, emotions
| and capabilities mark the successive phases IN
| which this energy reveals itself. AS phlo-
| sophica proposition human development should
| find its first expression in our recoections its
| second in our morals and its third in our con-
| duct. With educational institutions adapted to
| the wants of society, available to all without
/ cost or discrimination, under the administration
| of competent instructors, with leisure for study
and the means of study Under these circum-
stances it would be practicable to put the theory
| of progress propounded into operation.
| "As matter of Fact however. the conditions
| indicated, and necessary to render such a theory
/ practicable, have rarely existed in any COM
munity, and do not exist now to any apprecable
extent in the majority of political communities
which compose our federal Union. The order
of historic development conflicts with the philo-
| sophical, and places the Industries of the people
| first, and their intellectual development next.
'The distinctive and permanent advancement
| of people in an important sense dates not from
| their intellectual, but from their industrial
| growth. The bread-winner5 ante-date the phi
losophers in human affairs. and he who would
elevate the people TO the highest standard of ex-
| collence must conceive some wise programme
for their material improvement, and must de-
| wise method to supply the motive power by
which the energy which creates value shall be
directed.
"a further historical fact to which I direct
| your attention is that the estimate which the
world forms of the capacity and promise of a
| people is based more upon their industrial thar
upon their intellectual capacity. Material
growth depends on sound judgment, good morals
| and good habits but it will not long continue
/ where school-houses and churches absent.
| Neither school houses nor churches will spring
! up or be efficiently maintained by an impover-
] isned people l desire to discuss the three
| great forms in which production spreads itself
/ sBy production mean the creation of useful
| things which may be divided into three great
classes namely: the agricultural, the manufact-
/ uring and the commercial. The first deals with
elementary values the second, with the products
| of human ingenuity formed out of the raw mate
ial produced by nature; the third determines the
value of products, so as to exchange one for an
other. There have been instances in which sue
cess in the accession of wealth and power have
d
one of these great branches of industry. Bel
/ GUM is great to day by reason of her manufact-
ures; Russia, by reason of her agriculture; Eng-
| land, by com bining manufacture and commerce
France and Germany are industrially great by
| reason of the development of their agricultural
| and manufacturing resources.
| I'm some industrial development is the
/ necessary consequence of the material condition
| of the people among whom it obtains; it is also
| largely due to the tendency of late years among
nations, as among individuals, to specialization.
| This development is artificial rather than nat
| ural, and is ephemeral. A broad, permanent
| satisfactory material progress demands the i'm
| provement of all our resources. grand indus
trial development demands that agriculture
manufacture and commerce shall all receive at
tention, and that each ba made to
| contribute its quota to the creation and
| multiplication Of the outlets for the
We are probably the only Nation possessing
| within its area, under one domestic govern ment
the conditions of such development as l have
| indicated.
in Importance and rightly secures majoritysof
| all the workers of the world The cultivation of
the soil furnishes all the conditions necessary for
| comfortable living.
sit is a matter important to the intellectual,
nc less than to the material, development of the
| people. that they should diversity their indus
trial pursuits. At this time very great attention
| is being given to those who produce value. In
| no period in the history of the world has labor
| been so much respected as to-day. The dignity
| of. labor is being practically asserted by the
millions OF men who produce the values of the
| country. The who work and create the
| values OF the country, and constitute the ma
| jority of its voters, have reached the point in
| intelligence and consciousness of power which
! has destroyed all false shame and the servility
| that seemed bred of toll. The day has gone by
| when men are to be ignored because they labor
either with their brains or hands. There is
1 WI In m fo knN fha xvhv
and wherefore of their work. AMI to demand
better tools wherewith to perform their labor.
| This tendency among the working classes to
reason upon matters is not confined to the
United States but is as prevalent in the old
world as in the new. The time is approach
| ing when the uneducated farmer. the unin-
| structed artisan, the unlearned manufacturer.
the ignorant sailor and the routine merchant will
no more find success in their several vocations
| than an uniearned lawyer doctor would find
| success in his profession. Public attention has
| been particularly directed, in recent years, to
| the condition of labor in this country. Much
| has been said and written recently with refer
ence to the working classes especially those
! ganized into the great brotherhood known as the
| Knights of Labor, in consequence of the fact
that recently at Chicago. under the pretense or
| disguise of holding meeting in the interest of
working people, dozen or two of Socialists took
occasion to perpetrate outrages which has led il
some quarters to general condemnation of the
Knights of Labor Now investigation has al
rehuy uoulousLrdLeu sndL THESE SOCIALISTS were III
no proper sense Knights of Labor; nor were
they in any proper sense working
men; but they, like barnacles upon
| the bottom OF ship, attached
! themselves to some of these organizations; they
were simply masQuerading as working men, and
| the Knights of Labor are no more responsible
for the conduct of these Socialists and Anarchists
than you or l.
Labor has become more intelligent and self
reliable and hence the success of these labor
| CARNATIONS In them there is nothing new, they
| are simply the expression of the principle
| of acquisitiveness among working people.
This principle of acquisitiveness obtains more
strongly among capitalists than among working
| people That principle makes them capitalists;
| then surely it is not unreasonable that he who
| produces the values of his country should follow
them in self-defense. Organizations are becom