The Labor enquirer., 1886-09-11
RESOURCES OF CIVILIZATION.
What "Society Journal" Has TO say
of the Saving Grace OF
Dynamite.

of the Saving Grace OF
Dynamite.
The New York Sun some time since
copied from The Home Journal, New
York organ of fashionable society, an
article which from its timeliness we re-
produce. 1t says:
At first glance the dynamite bomb
seems an implement of fends, but e
closer view discovers in it potent min
lister of good. All triumphs of science
and invention work inevitably in ti:e
end for the people. 1t Is these scientific
victories which have made the p0pulace
of to day other than the slaves and
chattels of the ancient ciViIlzatlons'
But for these "tne divine right OF kings"
would still dominate the world, and the
great mass would be but cheap material
tn bui!d the tombs of the Pharaohs.
Every advance IN science has given the
the people an additional hold of the
sceptt of power. Sometimes by an in
crease of the general wealth. as in the
case of the steam engine, the loom, the
sewing machine, sometimes by general
multiplication of the means of destruc-
ton, as in the invention Of unpowder,
cannon and firearms, making a single
man often more formidable thau pha
lanx of ancient swordsmen. Every in
crease in the destructiveness of weapons
Of war has brought increased respect
and importance for the individual war
maker.
Thus to- day the poor Nihilist with his
dynamite is an object of more. consider
alton from the czar and his mobiles than
would 10000 serfs of the olden time
armed simply with slaves and forks
As a direct consequence, the case o1
these poor malcontents will be more
needed than it has been heretofore,
Not even proud England can escape the
alternative. She may resist for time
and try laws of an excessive rigor, but at
last she will cine to respect this hidden
force, and find it wiser and cheaper tC
cultivate the Irishman's good will than
his i'll will. Thus it will he found when
| the first mad outburst of murder and
destruction has cleared away, that there
will follow throughout the world a more
ready deposition on the part of govern
ments to listen to the petitions of the
humblest classes of the community, and
to see that no Eurdens of unjust laws are
maddening them to revolt.
The consequence will be an era Of
comparative peace and good will, greater
stability and less frequent Revolutions
in government, and the eventual aboli
of standing armies. This consumma-
ton can evidently be achieved most di
rectly by some agency like the perfected
dynamite bomb and electrical battery
which will make great armies useless
make them me1e targets for destruction
en- masse, instead of reserves of strength
In the future, littl le corps of engineers
with telescopes, batteries and balloons
will take the place of the numbering
armies of the past, and finish in few
days, petIaps hours, what in olden
times would have been thirty years
war.
These effects will be observed Wher-
ever the dynamite wave reaches; horror
and attempts at repression at first, then
the better counsels of discretion and hu
manity, and at last genuine recogni-
tion of the brotherhood Of the despised
classes, and a sincere purpose to relieve
their estate and remove from them all
unjust determinations. We say unjust
determinations, for it is incredible that
all this discomfort, this unanmity OF
outcry, should appear through all Eu-
rope without some serious justification
in bad laws. 1t is not human nature to
vince without PAIN; and in all ayes the
common people have been more ready
to accept and endure impositions than
to rebel without cause against fair a:
equal institutions.
1t is a weakness in all governments to
favor the rich at the expense of the
poor. Monarchies are avowedlv gov
ernments of privileges for the few; but
sven republics cannot quite counteract
the tendency of power to gravitate to
the powerful Here Is New York,
which has been 100 years perfecting its
systems of free institutions, and yet how
many of its laws discriminate against
the poor in plain defiance of principle
Happily the case is not one to call for
the interposition of dynamite, but the
determinations are irritating to the
classes Disseminated against, and tend
to ALLEVIATE them from the state which
they should look up to as a sure pro-
tector and love as a second father.
Without such regard from the humbIest,
from the great mass of the people, no
government can stand in perfect secur-
ity. And it will be well for our legisla-
tors to heed the warning that comes to
us from Europe land ChicAgo] and to
give due diligence to hunting out from
our statute books all traces of partial
and superfuous legislation, especially
such as tend to produce the old antag-
onishs between the poor and the rich.