Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-11-17
WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER Ii, 1896.
"No Thoroughfare."

We printed yesterday the address OF th'
Campaign Executive Committee oil the new
labor party in New York. IL contains the
following candid confession;
"Ibe difficulty which everywhere con.
fronts us in our efforts 10 raise wages and
secure leisure Is the existence OF an impoy.
erjsbed mass forced by their necessities 10
accept work on any terms. Until we can
lessen the intensity OF that struggle for
existence which makes so many men aud
women ready 70 do anything 10 provide the
mere necessities OF life, the work OF our la
Dor associations must be conducted under
tremendous Disadvantages. Men who can
not find employment are everywhere the
force which those who oppose us utilize to
resist our lust demands. IL Is therefore
necessary that we should make war upon
the great wrong which causes poverty--the
urinary Injustice which makes the land on
which and from which we must all live the
exclusive property Of individuals and de.
mes TO the rest OF us the right to live and
10 work unless we pay bIackmll for the
privilege"
Here Is a clear recognition Of the one in
superable obstacle that lies in the way OF
the workiugmen who seek to secure high
existence impels other men to accept the in
adequate wages and keep the long hours
which deadly competition among the en-
ployers too often renders unavoidable in the
opinion Of those employers. All fluanciers say
that GREsHAN's law is one that never fails
10 operate In the financial world-namely,
that cheap money drives good money into
retirement; keeps II from circulating; In
duces every man who has TO pay out money
TO pay out the worst in his pocket
that Is current. A similar law pre-
walls generally, not universally, in
the laboring world. Every employer
looks out for his own interests first.
Afterwards, II at oil, he concerns himself
about the wages OF bis employees. II JONES
employs in large establishment workmen
who underworld SMITHS workmen, what
can SMITH do but cut down the wages OF
bis employees? He has to choose between
that course aud bankruptcy. Soii work
man out Of employment and having iami-
ly to support Is offered the place OF
striker, what more natural than that "the
struggle for existence" should induce him
to accept His poverty, not his will, con-
tents.
How is this impoverished mass " to be
treateds How are the men who compose
IT to be put out Of the way OF the men who
strike for higher wages? To prevent boys
learning one trade Is to crowd to sufoca-
ton those trades which can be carried on 10
small villages. The boy learns in the wi.
lagc and removes to the city. The "im-
p0yerished mass " Is thus actually made
larger by the measures resorted to to make
II smaller. These "accept work on any
terms" Unemployed men are everywhere
the force which the employer uses TO bring
10 terms the men who strike for their "inst
demands" And how Is this wrong to be
rigbtedy
II Is plain, therefore, that as society is
now constituted, the Impoverished mass "
cannot do otherwise than work for low
wages when they are reduced to the alter
native OF working or starving. Human
01ttiTc IL 100 NCah w VAptCt thO iihPo'
erished mass" to die for the benefit OF q
class seeking leisure and higher wages.
So the new Labor party proposes
remedy. And what Is the remedy! II
Is the abolition Of private owner
ship OF land! What u remedy! And
how must this proposition sound In
the ears OF the "impoverished m,ss?"
This may be a qusck remedy, but IL Is not
anew one. II has been tried, and has been
found wanting. But the fact that 1t Is re.
commended shows that HENRY GEORGES
mind is dominating those OF the working
men OF New York. II Is his remedy not
theirs. II Is sad commentary upon the
condition OF the men who put 1t forth as
theirs. They put 1t forth despaIring Of any
better. Yet, who can suggest bettcrs
lie would indeed be benefactor Of man.
Kind who could solve the problem over
which HENRY GEORGE and his followers are
blindly worrying their brains. We have
faith that 1t will eventually be solved, and
that the time is coming when there shall be
work for every man that wants ii, and
leisure for every man that WORKS.