Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-09-01
IMPORTANT ISSUES
Considered bya Jurist Of Ma.
tional Renown.
OF INTEPEsT TO THE WORKINGMAN.

The Distribution of Property Handled by
Supreme Court Justice-Causes OF Vast
Individual Wealth = Socialism Not a
Remedy for the Ills Complained of-NIrs.
Lease at the Chicago Labor Congress
The Kansas Idea the Only Solution
MILWAUKEE, Sept. Redistribution of
Property was the subject of the address
made by Henry B. Brown. of Michigan,
associate justice of the supreme court of
the United States, at the Bar association
| convention. Beginning with the
proposition that "the history OF civilized
society is largely story Of strife between
| those who have and those who havenot-be-
| tween those who are ambitious TO acquire
| more and those who are compelled by ad-
verse circumstances to put up with less
! than they consider their proper share"
Judge Brown entered upon historical
| review of the labor question as Il has de-
veloped in the United States II it were
trIe, as labor agitators assert. that the
rich are growing richer and the poor poor
er, it would doubtless afford just cause
for alarm; but while it sounds well as an
aphorism it is wholly untrue
The Opinion of Walter Besant.
While, IN this country at least, private
fortunes are larger than they have ever
| been before, the condition of the laboring
class has improved in an equal ratio. Even
SO firm a friend of the workingni an as
Walter Besant, in his Fifty Years Ago"
frankly admits that, comparing his condi
! tion with what t was the year Queen Vic
torla was crowned, there has been vast
improvement Not only are his wages
higher, but his hours of labor are shorter.
He is better housed, better clad, better fed.
better taught. reads better and cheaper pa
pers, sends his children TO better schools.
and enjoys more opportunities for recrea-
ton and for seeing the world than ever
before.
The Cause of Large Fortunes.
The fact that large 70, tunes are larger
and more numerous than ever before
Judge Brown traced to that process of
Capitalization which has been steadily
going on since the introduction of rail
ways and telegraphs, and which has been
such an important factor in the political
world, consolidating small states into
great ones, combining the petty principal.
itles OF Germany into powerful empire,
unltylng the dlscordant states of Italy into
single kingdom, and cementing the
United States of America into compact
federation. This effect may be epitomized
IN the single W ord combination
Capital Learns from Labor
Not only have laws against workinCmen
been repealed but capitalists. taking their
cue from the Sorkingmen, have themselves
combined in defiance of the laws to control
laboring men, however, who have suffered
from this, but the small manufacturers
and dealers who are ground between the
upper milestone of the great corporation
and the neither milestone of the exacting
laDorer. Ihls result, he thought is to be
regretted since II Is better for the country
that there should be hundred small pro-
ducers of single article than one great
one.
How Men Get Vastly Rich.
The causes that have enabled the amass-
ing OF great fortunes are, however ceasiug
to operate. In the settlement of new coun-
tries mines are discovered which skillfully
and unscrupulously handled are veritable
mines OF wealth to their promoters. New
inventions are made which return fabulous
incomes to the patentees; new manufac-
lures are to be started; railways to be
built; commerce by sea to be promoted;
and enterprises TO be inRugurated in
hundred different directions which return
large profits to those who, to use a slang
phrase, "are in the ring"
Socialism q Calamity.
Considering schemes for securing a more
equal distribution of property judge
Brown first took up socialism, but recor-
nized in it only that wing which advo-
Gates the adjustment of private property
and the ownership of all property by the
state. The judge pointed out the difficult
ties OF establishing such an order of
things, and declared that no greater ca
lamity could overtake civilization than
the ushering in of socialism. 1t would
do away with the emulation that has been
the most important factor in progress.
Compulsory" Arbitration.
Considerable has been said of late of The
feasibility of compulsory arbitration as
n means OF insuring to the laboring man
fuller appreciation of his rights. Com
pulsory arbit alton is a misnomer-a con
tradiction in Terms. One might as well
speak of an amicable murder or a friendly
war. The very Idea of arbitration implies
voluntary submission of matters to per
sons mutually agreed upon TO decide
them.
What Is To BE Done?
After combating the single tax idea the
justice said that legislation could do much.
1t could make pernicious monopolies i'm
possible or near so; it could even have the
state purchase all monopolis. 1t could
limit the power of a testator in dis
posing of property SO as to secure its
division into small parcels, and it could
protect the workman by limiting Lis hours
of labor, etc. Upon the other hand, it is
equally its duty to protect the laboring
man, whether union or non-union, in his
right towork for whom and at such wages
as be pleases, and to secure his person
against violei ce. In protecting the public
against the tyranny of capital it is equally
incumbent upon the legislature to guard
1t against the tyranny of labor.
KANSAS CAN SOLVE THE PROBLEM.