The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1889-11-22

sion on the public mind it will be
because the people who gain
welth by other pursuits are indif-
ferent to the fate Of the American
farmer and stock and because
they are content to live, exist,
grow rich and die, surrounded by
a mass of humanity from across
the ocean who have but one idea
in life, q bare living and yet
when the American ceases to farm,
and lands are titled by tenants,
the effect of this will affect all
other trade and business. To
drive the option dealer from OPP
lions, forces the capital engaged
in honest pursuits-and results
in benefit to the country at large.
1t is conceded that we must
find some means to check this
growing evil. It is limited if not
asserted that the powers granted
to congress do not include the
power to regulate this phase Of
so-called commerce, and that the
power of the state does nOtreach
out beyound it's territorial limits.
Ifthereis no law which protects,
defends and guards the agricul-
ture of this country there should
beone. limo remedy is furnished,
there is one Of two results assure
to follow as fate, viz: either we
must submit and see agriculture
ruined, or unite and forcib]y put
the knife to the root of this can
cerows grouth.
1t NAV be said that this is the
language of a demagogue If SO
we will concede it, yet we insist
on the investigation of the causes
of the depression in grain and
stock, and the application of a
remedy. There is no wrong with
out a remedy. QUER1ST.
Wichita Eagle, Oct 31st.
Prisoners OF Poverty.
Mrs. F E. Russell in Business
Woman's Record:
1t is this great army OF the I'M
employed, who must work for al
most nothing or starve, that, by
the law OF supply and demand,
gives the capitalist his power to
screw down wages to the death
line. Do the men who step into
the places Of strikers against a
reduction of wages accept lower
wages because they prefer lower
wages? The argument of the
stomach conquers them. Work
they must have, at the employers
own price, and there is no free
bargain about it.
The cry Of Helen Campbell is
often in my mind. After she had
made those studies of the con-
ditions ofworking women in New
York, resulting in the book called
prisoners OF Poverty; after she
had been called to make similar
Investigations in London, the
cry Of her heart was, GLOW can
the rich be made to understand
the condition of thepoor?" For
it is the rich who make the laws;
it is the rich who hire the clergy;
it is the advertising patronage
of the rich that supports the
press. What fair chance, then,
have the poor? Even their opin-
ions they get from the pulpit
and a press too often more or less
subsidized by the money power.
When they begin to think for
themselves, the strike seems their
only weapon of defence but it is
a clumsy two-edged affair, more
and more powerless to resist the
combinations OF capital.
Under our present laws, there
seems no hope for the great mass
Of mankind against gradual
reduction to virtual slavery,
with a constant increase of pau
pers. Already the rich take credit
for'' charity because they "give
employment to the poor.
How unnecessary all this is,
every thoughtful readerof ''Look-
ing Backwards can see. Under
Mr.. Bellamy's plan, a strike is
uncomfortable. In the picture of
society he paints, the money
power seems to have become eX-
tinct; "boodle" in politics is ut
terly routed, for one could hardly
imagine a more complete puri-
ficatiOn of politics. All bother