The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-10
SOCIAL DISORDERS.

Inauguration, Is one OF the most interesting
studies that can engage the attention of the
public. To trace back the symptoms to the
underlying disease, and back of it to lay bare
the cause of the disorder which manifests it.
self in demonstrations like that now making
havoc in London. or the one p~aralyzing bust
ness in the coke regions of Pennsylvania, is
the duty of statesmen and scholars. This
done, it remains for legislators to apply the
proper remedy. A demonstration like that at
Trafalgar Square, which in a few minutes was
transformed into a bowling, irresistible mob,
could not be had without some excuse in
reason. It is not enough to deplore such an
outbreak or to urge that these men exercise
temperance, for it is plain that these have
been exhausted so far as these men are con-
cerned. Nor is it a solution to turn the police
or the militia loose upon them. A few Of
them might be killed and the remainder
cowed into temporary submission. But the
cause would remain, and like cause will
produce like effect to the end Of time. The
process of solution by force would AVE to be
repeated indefinitely. There is something or
several something's radically wrong somewhere
in the effect of government as now consti-
tuted. Rightly adjusted, the machinery of
society should run with less and less
friction as intelligence increases. But in
creased intelligence is less disposed to remain
passive under wrongs, whether inflicted pur-
posely or the result of laws tolerated until,
under changed conditions, they become OPP
~pressive. Educated labor is quicker to resent
imposition and prompter to respond to proper
treatment. 1t is the part of wisdom to real
ize that this general feeling Of unrest among
the laboring classes is the result of something
amiss in the adjustment Of affairs, and to en-
deavor to discover and correct the evil, what
ever it may be.
At this distance, it is easy to understand
why the people of Ireland are restless and dis
contented. Any intelligent people would be,
under the same conditions. The withdrawal
of millions Of pounds annually, in rent, from
that country, is certain to keep it impover-
ished. It would break down any State in the
Union and precipitate a rebellion in less
than ten years. One may understand why
the Nihilists of Russia are so determined in
face Of death and of Punishment worse than
death. The exactions of autocratic tyranny
keep the ranks recruited, and draw from the
most intelligent classes Of the empire. There
is scarcely an institution of learning but has
contributed victims to the prescription pro-
nounced against Nihilists, yet the number
never diminishes. To a less degree the same
explanation fits the situation in Germany,
and there, as in Russia, some Of the brightest
intellects are involved in schemes against
royalty. In England the trouble is easily dis
cernible to all but such as profit by the in
iquitous injustice handed down through Gen.
turtles. The law of heredity, applying to
estates and to titles, with their emoluments,
has done much to Cypress and impoverish the
people. Millions of pounds annually pass into
hands that never did an honest days work,
whose owners would have been beggars but
for the accident of birth. Hundreds of thou
sands of acres are given over to the estates of
men because they are the descendants of Lord
Somebody or Duke T~his-and-that. In the
same profigate spirit royalty is pensioned to
the uttermost hangeron at the expense of
labor. A new household is no sooner arranged
for than a bill to pay for it is presented to the
people through Parliament. In every direc-
ton, except toward the industrious and poor,
the public funds are scattered with lavish
hand.
In this country, while the people escape the
tyranny Of the Gar, the exactions of the
Kaiser and the imposition of a monarchy and
pampered nobility, there remain wrongs scarce
ly less irksome. This is a democracy-the
government of tie people. 1t would seem
that the people here could blame no
one bat themselves. and in a sense this
is true, for it is really in the hands of the pop
ular masses. But abuses creep in so insidi-
ously that their character and magnitude are
not at first recognized. The great evil that
ensnares labor here aud that has already made
its merciless grip felt, is monopoly. 1t has
assumed every phase, and has taken in not only
railways, and mills and manufactures of vari-
Gus kinds, but has laid hold Of the public do
main by the millions of acres. Monopoly in
this last-nameddirectio should be strangled at
once, and the lands grabbed by companies
through means that will not bear the most
rigid investigation should revert to the public