The Washington times., 1894-04-21
TITS A REVOLUTION"
These Present Times Reminders Of a
Former Situation in France.

"Sire, it Is a revoiution!"
Things were getting n little warm In France
when that remark was made. Things had run
riot there for many years. When the poor people
could not get bread they were advised to eat
grass 1t went from bad to worse until the
lecherous Louis XIV died. The Louis WI, good
but weak, undertook to grapple with the finan-
ciaI problem 1t still grew worse There were
ominous whisperings, and the jacques Of the
faubourgs were moving uneasily In Paris. Then
the word WAS given.
"On to Versailles
That was n motley crowd that started to the
French capital for the key 10 the bastile. The
sans calootes, the fishwives. the unemployed Of
all classes marched away to see the king
at is but a little excitement, which will blow
over" remarked his majesty.
'.Sire. 1t is a revolution" said one Of his at
tendants
Three years later, when he lost his head in
expiation Of the crimes of his predecessors and
his own weakness, these words must have come
to him with startling distinctness. These things
were Fantastic in their day.
1t was Fantastic" array of English peasants
that followed Wat Tyler, Jack Straw and John
Ball to London in the time of Richard H.
but when they arrived before the young king
6O,000 men were in array to protest against a
burdensome poll-tax.
IL was a Fantastic" spectacle to see Jac K
Cade marching toward London bridge, but Lon
don didn't think il q picnic.
Men and women in rags and suffering from
munger are fantastic III sSIlt eyer, Dut Iney are
something more Coxey and his army would
make a fine group picturP, but 1t represents far
more than the picturesque unemployed ,
Laugh at il, ridcule it, fear it, arrest it, get out
the police and the marines, 1t still is revolu-
ton. Not that Coxey and his men are of them
selves to be feared, but they represent some
thing more than handful OF rag, tag and bob
tail IL is the advance guard OF the industrial
revolution, brought about by "iaboI-sayng" in
yentions and bad legislation. Factory lords and
mine barons when any trouble occurred with
their hands in the past, were allowed to flood
the country with ignorant pauper labor from
Europe: are now in part reapiny our reward.
Type-setting machines will soon demonstrate
what amount of labor will be saved 10 the print
ers by that "IabCr-Saying device. In every de-
partment OF industry all our efforts have been
devoted TO production-quick and cheap produc-
tion-and no mental eEort has been given TO
methods of distribution.
Methods OF production have so far outstripped
economic methods OF distribution and consump-
tiOn tnat the farmer every now and then has TO
sit down stump and wait for the latter TO
catch up The race is every day becoming more
and more difficult. thus have produced
tranps and unemployed, a distinction without
''Flodding Pete and 'Meandering Nike are Us
legitimate otisprings OF our civilization as Mr..
Vanderbilt and MIR Gould, and it is but ques-
tion o. time, on the present line OF travel, when
there will DE but two sides 10 society, the "Plod-
ders" and the "rrodders." We may come face
viz: Anyone found idle for three days shall be
branded with a hot iron. condemned TO be a
slave, and wear an iron letter
Coxey is but the ripple on the sandy shore.
Shall we wait for the wind and the rain and the
thunder before anything is done to divert the
peaceful, quiet change for the better?
H. v BIsBRI