Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1889-02-02
LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
THE MASSES.

Men receive their ideas of things
largely from their surroundings; conse-
quently they are tinctured with preju-
| dices of their fathers. Custom is con-
| sidered too sacred to break through, and
is sentimentally regarded by the world
generally. Cyprian wrote centuries ago
| that "Custom without truth WAS an
| uquity with error" and this opinion APP
plies generally to all men in all times
| The ideas of men have been changed
only by shocking the so-Called finer feel
| ings and sensibiities of those holding
! them. Ppich described the London citi-
zens rs holding their noses III disgust on
the Introduction of gas as means of
lighting the streets. In this day the ques
ton of the masses is a subject for the
same delicate action. As the word is
used it is false-has no meaning what
ever. There is no body Of men separated
from their fellows and placed as a mass
in juXtaposition to them; the division of
men is a forced, not natural result.
Equality is not constituted by equal
mental or physical calibre, but by a nat
ural position innate to all entering this
world by the ordinary process of birth;
this of course does not apply to those
whose blood is decorated by gIobuces of
| blue color. The mass is the herd, the
bulk, the cattle, to be used as best suits
the class will, and however much our
friends opposing us may revile this, it is
) evidently true in their case. for they are
largely engaged in ''benetitting the
masses" To one of the mass would
say, look ahead horizontally, not up
ward; to you there is 10 space above
that holy, sacred precinct above you be-
longs to another world which you can
never touch or reach that is, unless
you happen to obtain control over a por-
ton of your mass; then your control
and power becomes necessary TO the
other world. Never think of rising, but
of always doing your duty in your own
station in life, even if by so doing you
work until you are seventy and then die
a pauper. Do not murmur, it is your
station. You must stand aside for the
class, subyert your opinions, in fact, you
must not have an opinion unless it is
orthodox. You should have no moral
ity-that is, if it conflicts with your duty
to your master, and always be ready to
lie, steal, or anything else for his inter
est Now, here is sound sense: You
can never hope to make your wife a
ladyC); she may be the mother of your
children, she may be virtuous and pure;
but if her hands are rough, and she does
not know how to temper few French
phrases, or chat at ease with some
noodle about Ouida's latest book, she is
not a lady-she must keep to her station.
Your daughters are the legitimate
ground upon which a young blood
may SOW his wild oats, and then settle
down as a good citizen; but to marry
her is equal to supplying a new freak for
Barnum. You should not insist upon
his admitting the paternity of her child,
for does not the French law make it a
criminal offense to inquire into the pa
ternity of "bastard"?
Your votes should always be cast un-
der the paternal eye of your employer;
he knows best what is good for you, he
was born to govern-for was not his
father a senator, did not his great grand
father once dine with King George =?
You should be content to be tricked and
duped, and when the campaign is in full
swing pay for transparencies for your
''savior, and shout yourself hoarse, 90
ing quietly home to your starving fam
lily, telling them to wait patiently unit
March 4th. In short, you should be
docile, ox-eyed, always obedient to the
powers that be.
The mass is the nation. the strength,
the bulwark of progress; yet how iso-
lated. alone and helpless are the men
composing it, Class regn-but some
day there will be no class, there will he
the people, a unit for the common good.
For this object-on, comrades, on.
NEMESIS.