The Labor enquirer., 1886-09-25
DENVER COLORADO, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 1886

.
fitting occasion was offered and success
attended the effort. The Bastile, that
isombre incarnation of authoritative
Force. the visible symbol of the divine
right of man to govern man, was ds-
stroyed.s .
July IA, 1888 1t was the opening of
new era in the martyrdom of Man.
1T Is revoltp exclaimed the aston
ished monarch. "Sire," answered Le-
moignon, 'it is Revolution p
Another century is nearing its close.
Has it also new spirit leading on to
broader freedom? Has it new Ideal,
another standard than that of the past,
seeking expression in action? Does it
also contend with authority and force?
If so the public questions which have
characterized our century must attest it.
Are they religious? Assuredly not.
Are they political? Such we have
thought them to be, but each year proves
that they are more and broader. The
spirit of an age is ever the assertion of a
great principle not yet attained. The
living issue, the legitimate successor of
its predecessors is Industrial Freedom.
All the great questions of this century,
since England began factory legislation
in 1902, have been economic. Corn laws
Freedom of commerce Tariff! Colo
nization Strikes! Cooperation All
have the same inspiration in various de-
grees of Ineligible articulation. The
chartists of England felt its breath
when they stained the field of Peterloo
with their blood. In 1880 it was family
heard in the streets of Paris in 1848 it
moved the pulses of thousands and
found audible voice. In 1871 its cry rang
out and its flag was unturled to shake
the thrones of Europe. Drowned in
blood it still serves to awaken a thrill in
the breasts of millions-ominous proph-
ecY ofthe future.
State patriotism is as obsolete as
church creeds to move men to action.
Nations still go to war, but it is now for
a market England and Russia contend
for Midland Asia. France, Italy, Ger
many, Spain, all are seeking new colo
NAL dependencies from economic rea-
sons. 1t is question of exports and i'm
ports. The productions of labor must
find an outlet to new markets; foreign
granaries must be secured to satisfy
of workmen at home. Home
producers cannot always buy that into
which they have too often hammered
or woven theirlives. A foreign market
must be sought, and won, by the sacrifice
of other lives. The 1885 boys and
girls under thirteen years of age in En-
glands textile factories NAV be ragged
and pinched, but British fabrics must be
exported to keep them in bread.
Two score years ago the tsrif was a
vital question in our land !; to-day it is
but a superficial one, Of value only to
political gamesters. To-day the desper-
ate struggle of all European powers for
a foreign market has rendered it dead
issue. Shall we protect, that is, endeavor
to advance happiness by curtalins free
dom? Then we abandon foreign mar
kets which our growing population in
creasingly demands and bend under
''overproduction. Shall we have free
trade2 Then labor must fall to the uni
versal level. In the one case we starve
from the want of market, in the other
the same fate awaits US in the struggle
for one
Where then is the remedy Politics
offers none. Our political state is based
on the present economic condition of
things. The ballot can determine
choice of methods only it cannot strike
deeper. To do so would end4nger vested
interests, disturb proprietary rights, vlo-
late commercial contracts, Jeopardlze
established Institutions, unsettle law
and order, peril religion itself. Still the
cry of the age grows in distlnctness i;
still angry men band together to secure
shorter hours of toll, or to look on the
cleaning bayonets of the militia on
guard. The terrible struggle of states
for economic advantage is the wrestle of
despair to avert the inevitable doom
statesmen foresee and dread. 1t is a
death struggle where failure is inevita-
BILE to some. The politico-e o-economlc
state has grown aged; it is in morl-
bund condition; only new methods can
restore It's arrested circulation. The
hand of Progress has written the warn
ing message upon the wall the meaning
of history attests its interpretation
wider freedom; mental. political, eco
nomic! In the living 60 pei of Progress
we found our hope, in living Humanity
we again behold Christ incarnate, and
in its coming advent our future life. The
old bottles answered to hold the old
wine of politics, but are now bursting
under the pressure ofthe new vintage.
We now see that the spirit Of the age
is not a new standard, new Ideal, but
the same ope shifted from the field of
political, to that of industrial relations.
All questions resolve themselves on
final analysis to the fundamental one:
Liberty or Authority freedom or force.
And he who has clear conception OF