The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-07-10


they had acquired even the rudiments
of an education, philanthropic men
and women have petitioned State
Legislatures to fix the period of life
at whichI it shall be lawful to en-
plOy children in such institutions, and
the number of hours that they shall be
permitted to labor each day. In every
instance they have met with the most
persistent and determined opposition
not from labor, but from capital. To
the mind Of the laboring man these
facts indicate the most criminal selfish
ness on the part of the manufacturer.
They prove to him that the manufac-
turer's devotion to Mammon has de-
prived him of his humane instincts,
and that he has only commercial in
terest in the lives and destinies of the
,toiling poor of the country. If there
we're no other, this one wrong would
make a chasm between capital and
labor.
Another wrong that has helped to
ALLEVIATE the laboring poor from the
wealthier classes, is the unrighteous
interference of capital with the free
dom of the ballot. 'Vox Populi, Vox
Dei," is oftener true than false. Bot
how seldom in these degenerate times,
do we hear at the ballot-box the voice
of the people. We hear something
which the political newspapers call the
voice of the people, but in reality it is
only the voice of the monopolists and
their hired henchmen. Mr.. Lincoln's
government of the people, by the
people, and for the people" is, in this
country, an ideal and not reality. Is
that a government of the people where
thousands of them are restrained, by
fear of losing their business situations
and their means of subsistence, from
voting according to their own convic-
tions of truth and right9 Is that
A GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE
where combination of capitalists, by
an iniquitous use of their money, secure
the passage of laws which are meant to
be golden gilders to one class and gall
ing shackles to another9 Is that peo-
ple's government where there is neither
a free ballot nor fair counts No!
The man who says it is, is either an
idiot or knave. A chasm yawns be
tween capital and labor because labor
knows that it's voice is not heard and
that it's will is not expressed in the gov
ernment of the country.
Another thing which makes the
breach between capital and labor, is
the unjust distribution of the burden
of taxation. The man who has hun
dred thousand dollars worth of prop
erty to be protected, should pay to the
government ten times as much revenue
as the man owns only ten thousand
dollars worth of property. Any de-
parture from this principle of taxation
is unmitigated robbery. But who will
deny that the capitalists of this coun-
try have practically repudiated the
wise and righteous principle of political
economy7 A man, who is known to be
worth thirty millions Of dollars, has
his personal property assessed at only
twenty thousand dollars, when the tax
assessors know that the paintings in
his house alone cost more than hun
dred thousand dollars. Another man,
who is known to be worth twenty mil
lions, has his personal property as
sessed at only five thousand dollars,
when the assessors know that his car
riages and horses cost twice that
amount. The result of this unblush-
ing dishonesty, is that the hardWork,
ing and honest mechanic has to pay
for the protection of his own meagre
possessions five times as much as is his
just proportion. In the light of these
facts how can you wonder at the dis,
satisfaction and unrest of the laboring
classes9
No intelligent and honest man will
contend that the laboring elements
themselves are not resp onsible in a
great degree for the calamitous strife
that now exists between capital and
labor Thousands of them have com
mitted themselves to the false and
revolutionary principle that wealth
is a crime" The assertion of a doctrine
so unjust and satanic, is enough to en-
gender suspicion and bitterness. 1t is
the right of any organization of labor
ers to strike for higher wages, if they
believe that they are not justly re
munerated for their toll. But they
have no right, legal or moral, to say to
other laborers, UNLESS you join us in
this strike, you shall not work at all. y