Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-10-03
DONN PIkTT ON LABOR,

tor of the GLOBE REPUBLIC the following
personal letter (for publications. perhaps
because we have long been personal friends,
and, though differing in partisan politics,
have always agreed in bipartisan contempt
of that RichManSpirit which, while it
abandons Lazarus to the compassion of dogs
and Abrahams bosom, consigns Dives to
hell:
Ny Dear Coates Kinney:
When the Champion City Times first ap-
pesred, the sditor very kindly put my name
down rs one whom he wished to receive
and read his editorial efforts.
accepted the compliment, and proceeded
to read, as requested. l soon found that
this was unpleasant can take republican
journal, such as you edit, and read with
! pleasure; for, while believe the policy OF
your party is fatal to the well-being Of the
country, yet the matter published is of
kindly nature, lit up by much ability, and
so commends itself to thoughtful mind.
When. however, a journal is published
for the duolced purpose Of dssdiling the
poor and singing pedns to the rich, no
amount OF intellect can make 1t pleasant.
This is what found in the Champion
| Cuy Times; and, not wishing to Offend a
gentleman who had paid me compliment,
| wrote .he editor private letter saying, as
kindly as | could. that 1t was disagreeable
| 60 mn ~ raoaiye his iournal
! Much 10 my annoyance, he published my
letter. and added column OF loaded mat
ter. in which was held up to ridicule as a
man boasting of my possessions.
will not say that this is not good journ-
alism: for should be laughed
at more loudly than l am. 1t
is considered enterprise, and that
covers not only betrayal Of trust. but theft.
But will say that this act, under all the
circumstances, will be taken to indicate the
spirit in which this gentleman does his
work.
| While have my ''facile pen" in hand,
permit me to add few words. am not q
reformer. nor the son OF reformer. This,
not but that sympathize with reform and
reformers, but that l believe that the re
form of humanity is simply impossible. W.
are what we are, and man might as vel
attempt to lift himself over the fence by
pulling at his boOt-strap, as 10 try to re-
make himself. Christ, our Saviour, said
unless man be born again he cannot re-
form himself; and he can not do it, then
save by Gods help. We cruciied him fol
the assertion, and then claimed our saliva
tion through our cruel murder. Man is To-
day what man was then. Were our Lord
and Saviour to appear as man on earth to-
day. he would be Stunned and despised as q
communist, and escape indictment only be
cause His ways were ways Of peace. The
chances are, however, that he would suffer
from association, and be killed, as before,
between two thieves.
Because, however, | find the cause
hopeless, it does not follow that do moi
sympathize with the poor sufferers, who
stand on the streets and beg, not for bread,
b 1t for work, and beg in vain. Nor does il
bind my eyes to the fact that all wrong
breeds violence, and that through destructive
storms all evils seek q remedy. l know tha!
the violence is vain. read the history OF
| the world. and see that men lose through
| fraud all that they gain from violence. The
food comes. and all the old rotten logs and
choking distractions are seized on and
| whirled away, apparently removed forever.
/ The sky clears, the stream sinks 10 its for
mer bed, and all the old rotten logs are
found stranded as before, and the obstruc-
tions gather again.
There is a strange delusion that in these
commissions intellect forms an active par!,
that the popular mind and thought are
stirred to excitement and action. 1t is .
superstition of which We should be
ashamed The popular mind is never
ton. This Abraham Lincoln told me
twenty-six years ago. 1t is true, because,
In the first place. you can not get your prop
osition before the people; in the second, you
can not get it understood: and, in the third,
| 1t excites no interest after an understand
/ ing. When, therefore, well-meaning people
tell us that the great French revolution was
brought on by the teachings OF Rousseau,
! Voltaire, Mirabeau, DautOn, and others,
they utter nonsense. The great multitude
of French could not read, and never heard
/ of these authors. it was the eliminating
explosion of thousand years of war be-
tween capital and labor. and for an imme-
diate cause had starvation. The revolution
came from the belly, and not from the brain.
The lesson taught is lost on us. We
have a million laborers working at starva-
ton wages. We have q million or more
without work at all These elements are
restless. We have organizations, boycotts,
and strikes, After while We shall have
something else; for the labor of the United
States is ten times more dangerous than the
like labor In Europe. We have been al
great expense in our common-school sys-
TEN not to make labor more intelligent (fOr
God does that, if it is done at ALL, but to
make it discontented. In Europe labOrers
are scarcely one remove from the beasts.
beside which they toll. They are aceus-
toned to their condition, and submit
to all but actual starvation without
a murmur. With us 1t is different.
We have not taught our laborers much. but
we have taught them enough to make it i'm
possible to enslaye them and not suffer. The