Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1893-06-20
THOUGHTFUL WORDS.
Socialism, and the Labor Move
ment.

wrcStle with some questions aS DIG Us
itself. Such question is the labor
problem.
Socialism has been well called the
storm cloud of the Nineteenth Cen
turv. There arc three distinct forms
of agitation which come into our dis
cussion anarchy. Socialism, and the
Labor Movement. The one thing com
mon among them is that each protests
against the existing social and indus
trial order. anarchy aims at revolu-
ton and expects it to be violent. So
cialism likewise aims at changes which
would he equivalent to revolution OF
society and government, but desires
that it should he peaceful. What has
been referred to rs the Labor Move
ment, aims rather at reformation to
bc achieved 10y working forward
through the existing order of things,
These forms of agitation differ wide
ly i'm the danger which they involve to
the general security of our American
institutions. There are two pOrten-
tOus facts in the situation. The first
is the danger that one class may he
recruited from the others: peril is i'll
volved in the fact that there is in this
country so large a number of unem-
ploycd men nearly million.
1t is fearful to think how much dis
content and how much danger resides
in this single fact. Hunger is very
fierce; it does not stop to reason; and
in the case of the bona .fde laborcr
who is unable to find employment, and
who hears the cry of his children fol
bread, the hottest and noblest feelings
of the human heart conspire to make
him Il lawless savage.
The other portentous fact is the in
huence of a literature in book anC
newspaper forms having wide circu
lation. and devoted to the propagation
of these movements. the very existence
of which is by most of us unsupported
The man who pooh poohs a power like
this advertises his ignorance or stupid
ity. In the presence of these three
forms of agitation. and the elements
of strength that belong to each. the
conclusion is forced upon us that we
are on the eve either of some new ad
justment of the relations of Capital
and Labor. or of an angry antagonism
of class against class, in which violence
can only be put down by a strong mill
tary rule. Which shall it be? This is
one form of stating the labor problem
The causes underlying the phenom-
ena considered are numerous, and
many of them are occult. | can only
undertake to deal with "a few of the
most prominent and salient.
1st. The overwhelming gulf between
Wealth and Want between the en-,
riched classes and the impoverished
masses. During the thirty years end
ed in 1850 the net product of our man
ufacturers increased over 400 per cent
But this wonderful increase. instead OF
lifting the masses in a vertical line, has
lifted the upper crust to higher and
better planes, while it has crampeC
and pressed down to lower levels the
masses beneath. Thus it appears that
the laboIer. under the modern system
sees himself "filling the world with
wealth and at the same time living il
want" The middle class, the mora
safeguard of every community, crush
ed out by the competition of the bill
lionaires, is rapidly diminishing.
Ind The startling contradiction be
tween the worlds professed religion
and its accepted political economy.
AS to wages, political economy has
its iron law CRicardo's), namely:
Wages constantly tend to the min
imum at which the laboring class cal
live and perpetuate the race"
Contrast this with the Golden Rule
of Christ's teaching and with such ;
passage as The laborer is worthy o
his hire" If asked to name the dan
gerous class in this country, L would
point to those wealthy men who illus
trate the selfish greed and pride o
wealth. A poets vision saw the truth
Landlords and Lawlorls and TradeSlords, tn
SpectreS you c0niured have risen
Communists. Socialists NihiSts, Rent-rcbel>
Strikers, behold!
They are the fruits of the seeds YOU have Sowns
God has prOspered your planting. They com
From the earth like the army of death. Iol
have sowed the teeth of the dragon
Hank to the bay of the leader! You shall hca
the roar of the pack
AS sure as the stream goes seward. "
The world has travelled as .ong as il
can with the Bible in its right hand
and political economy in its left
hand, which are the diametrical con
tradictions of each other.
3rd. Political economy is not only
unChristian in its point of view, but
unscientitic.
4th. The liquor traffic stands as the
unapproachable chief among the
causes of industrial distress and social
disorder. in its threefold results: finan,
cial waste, political corruption, and
mob violence.
The capital invested in the manu-,