Workmen's advocate., 1889-05-25
SOCIAL REMEDIES AND SO-
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factory magnates, etc., on the other
 1t i4 not, of course, for "EcUilerS and dcmagogues' like the centennial orator to despair at the thought of this result of free pursuit of happiness. These presidential, guhcrnatoraI, senatorial, or aIdcrmanic "uO5slbitics' cannot af- ford to "drspair of the repuhlic.' There are plenty of honest citizens who are alive to the growing wrrtchedncSS of the masses, Those of them, however, WhO not being accustomed to the task of thinking, would be scared by the very idea of any innovation in the life of the society in which they were born and bred, and content themselves with a deep sigh of coudolcnCe for their in- rcrior brethren, "Thc world has al- WDs been such, and such 1t will re maIn We have not created 1t, neithrr can we change it, with which the ven crabIc conservative recovcrs his peace of mind and rcIap4cs into an admiration | of our national wealth, the number of colleges and all sorts of progress and i changes for the better.
 A smaller class of people, being rather 1 fond of eXcrtiug their mental faculties, are aware that something must be wrong in the relations between man and man. Their thought, however, is not | bold enough tO venture below the surface. Each of them is attracted by l some superficial indication of disease, l and accordingly takes to clustering the 1 particular pimple which happened to attract his notice. One rcfOrmer is cs- pecially shocked by the gin mill and by the havoc 1t plays in the families of the neighborhood, and so he makes no 1 doubt that all the evils of society are 1 traCeabe to intoxicating beverages, which he accordingly seeks to prohibit as sure cure of every social malady. 1 Another, being provoked by the whole ! sale t)eecmg of the national banks more 1 than by anything else, proceeds to heap all responsibility upon the back of every 1 dollar that lS not green. A third works out the thoOrem; The condition of the masses Is Wrctchcd because their wealthy brethren are too selfish; hence. l let us preach charity, the brotherhood of man, teudCr-heartedness, etc. A fourth is touched by the life of the "poor' in the crowded tenements, and SD he solves the social problem by de vising system of 'mOdel tencments' 
 a step further and makes no scruple of pitching into the landlord, offering on his part to bring about the millennium by putting all taxes on land. A sixth goes still further and proposes to amCll- crate the condition of the working classes by introducing the prolit-sharing system or even by establishing cooper atlye factories,
 Most of these propositions are sound as far as they go, The reformers here mentioned are not fighting with ghosts. The evils which they attack exist but that the remedies which they prescribe are pOWerIrsS tO remove them under the existing mode of pursuit of happiness becomes evident at a most superficial and general examination under the light shed on the subject by the latest discoveries iu political economy and sociology,
 To begin with, let US imagine that the ideal of the prohibitonist is put into opcration--that the destructive intlu- ruce which liquor exercises over the laboring population iS checked, and that that part of wages which it ahsorbs is expended in satisfying the
 
 Will he be better off? This would seem tO be the case if the bitter rivalry in the pursuit of happiness, or in other words, the competition between employer and employee had no control over the stand- ard of wages, and did not tend to lower II to its utmost minimum, No matter how tender-hcarted the wage-payer be, he will always pay his men as little as possible, for cheaper labor means q lower price of the commodity, and greater opportunities on the market. The more desperate the fight between the capitalists, the lowe. is the wages they can afford to pay to their em- ployccs. There Is, however, a natural limit which this tendency cannot ovcrstcp, and that is the cost of the nee essarics of the employed laborer's life. the want of which would inCapaCitate him for the servICes so greediy eX- peCted of him, These neccssaries are of course d. termined hy the environments and the given degree of civilization of the worker Thus, what might be called luxury by the employee of d Turkish shop falls under the head of ncCessarirS in the case of an American wagc-earncr. Now, strike out the al cohoIic beverages from the list of the lahorcrs uecrssaries. save him the two or three dollars of which he k deprived. directly or indirectly, by using liquor. and his wages will be forced down to that extent. Neither k the competition tctWrcn the employers the only force which weighs down upon the wages. The competition of the working men among themselves k sometimes a more powerful propeller in the downward direction; for labor to day, being viewed as nothing else than a commodity, is L. .L.n.- IL .L--