Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1886-08-21
WHITTIER?
Written for the TRIBUNE.

AOdIS dSo CAV noA1Sa
quest and victorious war as the syn.
onym Of national prosperity. Wa
was the avenue to a nations great
ness and the pathway to individual
fame. Amid the sound of bugle, the
tramp of troops, the clash of arms,
men had neither time, need nor
thought to study social questions. In
the great great struggle for political
liberty, and natural rights, the yeo-
anan cared little about the relations of
labor and capital. Famines and
slaughtered armies reduced the sur
plus population. A large and hungry
soldiery consumed the farmers wheat
and sharpened the demand for other
products. The mechanic, who gen
orally stood for capitalist and work
maj combined, toiled away in his lit
tie shop, slow, sure, and satisfied.
Today all is changed. The hand Of
Science has leveled and destroyed the
civilization Of the past. GunpoWder
has shattered and obliterated ever bar
rier between subject and lord. The
printing press has drowned the a
dates of despotism and proclaimed the
triumph of liberty to the corners Of
the earth. Steam and electricity have
founded a new civillzation-a clviliz-
alton founded not on the crumbling
stone OF feudalism and war, but on
the solid rock Of industry and peace.
Tho instruments Of human destruc-
zion have been transformed into in
struments of productive use. The
roar and tumult of battle have
given place to the candid voice of ar
filtration. Famine and restitution
have been driven from the doors OF
OF lowly homes by the lavish hand Of
charity. The small and smoky shop
where once the independent mechanic
aoiled, has long since yielded to the
colossal factory with its huge machin-
cry and thousand wage-dependent OPP
eratives. Every discovery and acqui-
sition of science is applied to increase
and cheaper production. Every
means of human thought and ingenu-
ity is exercised to prevent the decrease
of population. Every invention, every
product Of the creative mind, every
force Of nature, is employed to lessen
the sun of human labor. The inquir-
ing mind glances over these facts and
whispers to itself: What does all this
mean? Whittier does all this tend2
Are we on the broad ascending road
ito the long desired millennium, or, are
we but marching over an eminence of
prosperity, soon again to pass into the
.shadowy valley Of want, war and des-
potism? Have we destroyed an arts
socracy Of blood, only slowly but
surely to foster an a%ristocraey Of
wealth? These are not the questions
OF. an idle dream. They are the ques-
tons that mobs, riots, strikes, anarch-
ism and the blood of social discord
now bring home to every thinking
man and fill his soul with doubt and
apprehension. To answer these ques-
tons, and we can but answer them
approximately, we must investigate
social and industrial relations
with close and unprecedented mind.
We must find whether the absolute
and aggregate condition of the labor
er has been improved by the march of
invention. II we see the laborer's
condition to be steadily advancing,
we must yet find whether he is adj
yancing faster than his employer,
whether labor is deriving a greater
benefit from the present industrial
system than capital. If labor leads,
conflict is inevitable. It needs no ar
gument to establish the fact that the
absolute condition Of the laboring
masses has been bettered by the adj
vance of industry. By absolute con-
we political liberty, edu-
cation and a higher standard of living
for all these boons have been won for
suffering man by the aid Of science
and invention. We shall leave it to
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