Workmen's advocate., 1890-04-26

European footing, to build extensive | Notifications in various parts of the land, to embelish Washington with magnii- | cent parks-taken together with all these incidents the unjustltiable pension bills that are being introduced in Con- gress throw valuable light upon the whole matter of homes and pensions for the soldiers. he question of pensions in Congress now ceases to be one in volving national gratitude; it assumes a wholly different aspect Besides being a method to dispose of the surplus, it also is one of the many manifestations of a set scheme to make this an imta ton of European countries by creating here and perpetuatlng a military caste, establishing large body of gorg 'ous officials, rearing a ruling class with the opulence and insignia of power-all ex- pressive of a splendid government and an impoverished people. As an ad- ditional manifestation of the scheme and tendency to subvert the democratic spirit of the country, there comes fur thermore this week bill to incorporate, under the name of Sons 0f the Amerlcd1l ReUOtution, society that is to be com posed exclusively of the descendants of the men who did service to the country during the revolution. Against this whole scheme, as it reveals itself from day to day, feeble voice is heard now and then, here and there, in Congress, but, in each case, it is promptly hushed, or drowned in an uproar.
 Third in quantity, yet by no means slight in number, are the weeks peti- tions on the tariff. The attitude of the farming and banking interests toward each other would seem to reveal inco- herency far and deep enough in nation to render it divided against itself to a | perilous extent. But to what degree the capitalist system has divided and subdivided the nation against itself the petitions on the tariff bring forcibly for ward. The duties one petitioner clam ors for as a necessity to his industry another clamors against as deadly to his. | And in this strain the conflicting and cross conflicting petitions continue to rain down upon Congress from all quar. ters.
 The spectacle our people presents, as reflected by the weeks petitions, etc. is, however, not one of retrogresslor only, as in the case of pensions, or of { jarring, struggling, tugging mob only
 as in the case of the tariff and finance
 questions, it is also one indicative o
 moral turpitude and degradation. In be
 tween the petitions for pensions, nationa
 loans and on the tariff, we find a mum
 Der, sufficiently large to attract atten
 ton, demanding legislation to proven
 the adulteration of food. Next to tn,
 lowering of wages and lengthening o
 the hours of work, cheating in the pro
 ducti0n of commodities is the favorit
 trick the competitive system of produc
 tion suggests in order to eke out or in
 crease the surplus of values from whicl
 the capitalist sucks his living. To sel
 cotton for wool, or pasteboard for shoe
 leather, is immoral and wicked enough
 but to palm off stone.dust for breadstufi
 chalk for milk, alum for meal, etc
 seems a misdeed still more immoral i
 the doing, and more enduring in its ev
 consequences. To what an extent thi
 crime is practised among us to-day tn petitions to Congress for this one wee alone render painfully suggestive. An
 yet what could Congress do to stop tn , mischief Appoint officers of inspectio whom the very competitive system ( existence would probably cause to shu their eyes and succumb to the tempti ton of a bribe?
 No wonder that, in this chaos of eco f homie and industrial questions whic
 the wage system thus starts before tt 7 wondering gaze of our Congressmel they should take refuge to superici l questions of form, and, in the Sena , and the House, dispute about question of contested elections