Workmen's advocate., 1890-04-26

luTtneTulOre to reduce the lnleres thereon 10 nominal rate it is rightly argued that it is quite as legitimate anC far more appropriate for the government to save the farmers from impending fore closure and ruin by lending them money at the same rate. But, on the other hand if 1t IS the business of govern ment not only to provide railroad mon opolists with the land and money tc build and equip railroads, but to provide every agricuturist with the land and money required for the establishment of an improved farm, the question will be asked: Is 1t not also the business of government to provide every mechanic and operative with the land and money which he may need to start shop or n factory of his own?
 We apprehend that the interference of the government as a money lender would not, in the end, save the farmer. though 1t might temporarily relieve him. With the machinery of distribution in his hands properly trustifed, the capital lst can fix prices on the farm and on the market, and, without having to advance the money which the government would kindly supply at ? per cent. for instance, ne would manage to get as much profit as he dld when he made such advances The farmer, as a farm owner, is going and must go. And not until he is gone as such, and has entered the ranks of the wage-working class, will he intelli- gently demand, not favOrs, not loans of money, not cheap rates of transporta- ton, not anti-monopoly Legislation against trusts and railroads for the benefit of farming monopoles rooted in private land ownership, but his rights as free citizen of the cooperative con- monweath.
 Of the quiet, steady, underground progress ot the trusts few people are fully aware Not week passes without some new combination being effected or some old one perfected, and the month under review has been remarkably proli, flc Tn this respect. It is amusing to note thls growing concentration of capital in the face of adverse decisions in the courts and threatening bills in the halls of legislation. The fact is that capital obeys its natural impulse and follows its natural lines of evolution, and all that can be done by the legislator so long as capitalism prevails is to
  the development of their own system by defrauding each other, That the trusts are fast organizing the CO., operative commonwealth will still more clearly appear in the light of a recent fact. The match trust organized cracker bakery trust. To the same capi- tallsts who supply us with matches we must now turn for our supply of crack CTS; we may soon learn that we must apply to them for other necessaries. The tendency Is first to an amalgamation of all the shops or factories of the same in dustry; then to an amalgamqtion of all the industries. The manufacturer. as such, is disappearing; the superinten- dent takes his place, and in the course Of time there must only be the trusted banker on one side and the wage worker on the other side. Don't you think that then, If not before, a fundamental change, involving the constitution of society, will take place in the relations of Capital and Labor"
 As counterpart to this great move ment of capital, but on parallel lines, we may now observe the labor move ment.
 
 darkness in the labor world from the Vistula to the Pacific. The conservative leaders of blind Samson, puny fellows all of them, but very loving, warned him to be cautious, extremely cautious; they would not let him move for fear he might break his neck, for there was no l hope that he might break his chains, | Behold! some one has put fifteen hun dred thousand socialistc votes in the | ballot boxes of Germany and kicked the | great Bismarck higher than a kite Sam son did it, blind Samson! And, by love! | not only Samson begins 10 move but he | begins to see. He gathers his tired limbs | together, moves foot in England, a finger in Austria, mods to America and | shouts all over: Flight hours or l kickr
 Nor is this all; Samson is child; an old child, to be sure but very childish; and, like every child, he likes bright colprs. Therefore he marches under the bright banner of Socialism-which is best seen in the bright light of truth dragging along his conservative leaders. This IS, l believe, a sight worth seeing. We shal! see it here on the lst of May.
 But l must leave with the speaker ap- pointed for this special purpose the task of presenting to you this great, world wide eight-hour movement in its true light and significance. 1 shall simply state here that the present economic conditions are as favorable to the sue cess of it as we can ever expect to find them under system that tends to make those conditions constantly more un- favorable, through the creation of a permanent and growing army of unem- ployed workers. It is granted by the capitalists in nearly every branch of in dustry and trade that their bu ~jpess is