The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1892-12-23
A VOICE FROM THE PAST.
What Victor Hugo Said ON the Question
of Labor.

what victor Hugo said on the Question
of Labor.
The poor cry cut to the wealthy.
The slaves implore their rulers and
as much now as in the days of Spartan
Helots.
I am one of them and I add my
voice to that d the multitude that it
may reach tho Fears of the rich. Who
am Ip One Of the people. From
whence came 1? From the bottom
less pit How am l named? I am
wretchedness. My lords I have
something to say to you.
My lords you are placed high.
You have power opulence pleasure.
the sun immovable at your zenith.
unlimited authority. enjoyment un-
divided. total forgetfulness of 9TH
ers. So be it. But there is something
below you; above you, perhaps. My
lords impart to you novelty. The
human race exists
l am he who comes from the
depths. My lords you are the great
and the rich. That is perilous. You
take advantage of the night But
have care. there is greater power
the morning. The dawn cannot be
vanquished. 1t has within it the
outbreak of irresistible day.
You. you are the dark clouds of
privilege. Be afraid. The true mas
ter of the house is about to knock at
the door.
What is the father of privilege?
Chance. What is his son? Abuse.
Neither chance nor abuse is endur-
ing. They have both of them, an
evil tomorrow.
come to warn you. I come to
denounce TO you your own bliss. 1t
is made out of the ills of others.
Your paradise is made out of hell and
of the poor.
I come to open before you the
wealthy. the grand assizes of the poor
that sovereign who is the slave,
that convict who is the judge.
I am bowed down under what
have to say. When to begin? !
know not have picked up in the
vast trough struggling. pleas. Now
what shall l do with them? They
overwhelm me and throw them pell
NELL before me.
am a diver; and I bring up from
the depths a pearl the truth. !
speak because 1 know. have ex.
perience have seen. Suffering?
No. the word is weak. O master in
bliss! Poverty-I have grown up in
it; winter-I have shivered in it.;
famine-I have tasted it; scorn-I
have undergone it; the plague-I
have had it; shame-I have drank of
it.
/ felt it requisite that l should
come among you Why? Because
OF my yesterdays rags 1t was in or
der that my voice might be raised
among the satiated that God com
mingled me with the hungered. On!
have pity. Oh! you know not this
fatal world. whereto you think that
you belong. So high. you are outside
of it. | will tell you what it is.
Abandoned an orphan. alone in a
boundless creation. l made my entry
into this gloom that you call society.
The first thing that l saw was law
under the form of gibbet; the
second was wealth-it is your wealth
under the form of a woman dead
of cold and hunger; the third was
luxury under the shape of haunted
man chained to prison walls; the
fourth was your palaces beneath
which covered the tramp.
The human race has been made by
you slaves and convicts. You have
made this earth dungeon. Light is
wanting. air is wanting. virtue is
wanting.
The workers of this world, whose
fruits you enjoy. live in death. There
are little girls who begin at eight by
prostitution. and who end at twenty
by old age. Who among you have
been to Newcastle on Tyne? There
are men in the mines there who chew
coal to fill the stomach and cheat
hunger Look you at Lancashire.
Want Of work everywhere. Are you
aware that the Harlech fishermen ca,
grass when the fishery fails? Are
you aware that at Burton Lazars
there are still certain lepers driven
into the woods who are fired at il
they come out Of their dens? In
Peckridge they have no beds in the
novels. and holes are dug in the
ground for children to Sleep so that
in place of beginning with the cradle
they begin with the tomb.
Mercy. have mercy for the poor.
Oh. conjure you have pity!
But no. you will not 1 know We
all. Devils bred in hell and dogs
with hearts of stone Upward te
your golden thrones for ages has gone
the cry Of misery the groan of hun
ger and the sob of despair. and We
needed not What mercy thou hast
given shall be meted out to you ii
| turn.
Bear in mind that the series of
kings armed with the sword wa:
interrupted by Cromwell armed with
the axe.
Tremble! The incorruptihle disso
lutions draw near; the clipped talons
push out again: the torn-out tongues
| take to fight; become tongues of fire
scattered to the winds of darkness.
and they howl in the infinite. They
who are hungry show their idle teeth.
Paradises built over bells totter.
/ There is suffering. and that which is
above leans over and that which il
below gaps open. The shadow ask:
to become light The damned discuss
the elect 1t IS the people who ar,
! oncoming. | tell you it is a man VIII