Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1889-10-12
THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE.
The Coming Revolution.

Inc great Strlke mas proved 10 lne
world that even the unsklled laborers
are beginning to learn their own
strength; that to-day they are not the
unthinking slaves they once were; that
they are learning TO think and learning
to combine. Great have been the fears
of the propertied classes; great the fears
of the supporters of "vested" interests;
great the anxiety and terrible the pre-.
sentiments of the profit mongering
classes.
Twas assured a day or two ago by a
retired tradesman that the strike was
forerunner of greater troubles; that the
great mass of the people, through their
ignorance, are unfit for any good, are
capable of only mischief, and that in a
year or two we shall find history repeat
ing itself in the shape of a reign of terror
in this England of ours. Though Con-
sentative, he thought the government
were much to blame in not stopping all
meetings and professions, and if need
be, in even suspending the Habeas Cor
pus Act
Well, these great upheavals, the So
cial revolts, are among the best signs of
the times. We know what the workers
can do if they UiH, and we know what
they lciH do when they learn their own
strength aud feel their own importance
1t is our duty, then, to redouble our eff
forts in all directions, to educate and
organize them, prepare them for the
good time coming, and be ready to guide
and control them when the crisis arrives.
The unskilled laborers have hitherto
been treated as almost beneath con-
tempt; yet a cessation of labor on the
part of a few thousand of those so-called
unskilled workers paralyzes the trade
of the metropolis and fills the bt SONS of
the spectators with fear and trembling.
What would a general cessation of labor
do, eren for one SeUen ddySP If a partial
cessation, and for the removal of GER
tain grievances only, can cause such
CONSERVATION, what would a general
cessation, and for the social revolution,
accomplish? Not only would trade and
commerce be paralyzed, but the whole
of the non producing classes would be
paralyzed, too.
We are often told that England is the
richest country in the world. Nomin.
ally speaking it no doubt is, in proper
ton to its population. We were told in
1878 that taking the ten years ending
1875, that the wealth increased C., 400
O,OO0, or yearly average of gao, 000,.
600. That ten years included the period
of enormous prohts-1S70 IA. But TAX
ing the perold of low prices. the ten
years ending 1885, and the increase was
81 800 coo, 900, or an annual average of
41S0000, 900; and if we take the seven
years ending 1886, the yearly increase
was over G207, 100000. But great deal
of this so-called wealth is pure fiction,
| a mere increase in values.
Take the land of the United Kingdom.
| In 1910 the capital value was given at
81, $50, 000, 900; in 1860, at 81 500, 000, 900;
in 1878, at close on $4,000, 900, 900. But
| the land of the United Kingdom had
not increased, while large proportion
was yearly going out of cultivation, and
was thus becoming less valuable. The
secret of the matter was the rise in rents.
| Take, as an example, the rent of rural
land. The rise in rents from 1857 to
| 1875 was el6,091, 300, which, at thirty
| years purchase, gave an increased CAPT
tai value of G482 $4,000. And if we
add the increase of ground-rents in
| towns, we shall have an increase in the
! capital value of far more than 81 ,000,-
| 10000 during that short period. But
the rent of rural land continued to rise
up to 1880, and the ground-rents of our
towns still go on increasing thereby
adding to the nominal wealth of the
country. But Notwithstanding the fact
| of the rise of rents, at the close of 1879
and the beginning of 1880, % years pur-
chase was generally held to be the true
basis, and away went $500, 900, 900 in the
capital value of the land. But the land
was there all the same. In 1882 it was
81, 49,, 900, 600.
Take house property. From 1S4l tO
1881 population increased about As pei
cent; house property hardly so much.
But rents rose over 1855 per cent, and
hence the capital-value of house prop
erty rose from $40, 900, 900 in 1910 to
g., 2S0. 900, 900 in 1882.
Take the railways. In 1910 the capital
value was G33,000, 900; in 1860. 1884 ),
00O,O00; in 1852, t11O, 00O,O 900; and
in 1886, GS20,000,000. But take
away the total results Of what the
Americans call the watering process,
and what would the capital value be
But that process adds nothing to the
wealth of the country, but only increases
the claim to dividends to those inter
ested in the plumber of the workers. n
Why do the non-producing classes
fear the coming revolution? Why dc
they fear the very name Of a crisis
Because this system of fictitious value:
would disappear in a moment. The
fraud would be discovered. Their divi
dends would be swept away for ever
and the real wealth of the nation only
would remain. On the first triumph OF
the revolution what would be the value