The Washington times., 1894-04-08
How | Wr0f6
Looking Backward


continuously In a thriving village Of New
England, where there were no very rich and
few very poor, and everybody who was willing
to work was sure Of fair living. At that
time visited Europe and spent year there
in travel and study. 1t was in the great cities
of England, Europe, and among the novels OF
the peasantry that my eyes were fully opened
to the extent and consequences Of mans in
humanity to man.
| well remember In those days OF European
travel how much more deeply that black
background of misery impressed me than the
palaces and cathedras in relief against 1t. /
distinctly recall the innumerable debates,
suggested by the piteous sights about US,
which had with u dear companion OF my
| journey, as to the possibility of finding some
| great remedy for poverty, somo plan for
egualizing human conditions Our discus
| sions usually brought up against the same
old stump: who would do the dirty work?
We did not realize, as probably few do who
lightly dismiss the subject OF social reform
with the same query, that its logic implies
the condonation Of all forms Of slavery. Not
until We all acknowledge the worlds "dirty
work. as our common and equal RESPONSE
bility snail we be in position intelligently
to consider, or have the disposition seriously
| TO seek Il luSt ana reasonable way OIL u1StflD-
uting and adjusting the burden.
| So 1t was that returned home, for the first
| time aroused to the existence and urgency of
| the social problem, but without as yet seeing
any way ont. Although it had required the
sights OF Europe to startle me to a vivid real.
izaiion Of the inferno Of poverty beneath our
civilization my eyes having once been opened
l had now no difficulty in recognizing in
| America, and even in my own comparatively
prosperous village the same conditions in
course Of progressive development.
| The other day rummaging among old
| papers l was much interested by the discov-
cry OF some writings indicative of my state Of
mind at that period. If the reader will glance
over the following extracts from the manu-
| script of an address which it appears deiv-
cred before the Chicopee Falls Village Lyceum
along in 1871 or 1872 he will probably admit
that their youthful author was quite likely to
attempt something in the line Of looking
| Backward If he only lived long enough.
The subject of this address was 'The Bar
barism of Society,"" the barbarism being held
to consist in and result from inequality in the
distribution of wealth. From numerous
equally radical expressions l excerpt these
paragraphs: 1.-The great reforms of the world
| have hitherto been political rather than social.
In their progress classes privileged by title
! have been swept away, but classes privileged
| by wealth remain. A nominal aristocracy is
ceasing to exist but the actual aristocracy Of
wealth the world over is every day becoming
more and more powerful.
| The idea that men can derive right from
| birth or name to dispose of the destinies of
| their fellows is exploded, but the world thinks
not yet OF denying that gold confers power
| upon its possessor to domineer over their
equals and enforce from them life's painful
| labor at the price of a bare subsistence. l
would not have indignation blind my eyes or
I ,tnNs1
this injustice. but ! ask you what is the
name OF institution by which
men control the labor OF other men, and
out Of the abundance created by that
labor, having doled out to the laborers such
pittance as may barely support life and sus-
tain strength for added tasks. reserve to them
selves the vast surplus for the support OF a
life of ease and splendor? This, gentlemen,
is slavery-a slavery whose prison is the
world. whose shackles and letters are the
unyielding frame of society. whose lash is
hunger. whose taskmasters are those bodily
necessities for whose support the rich,
who hold the keys of the worlds
granaries must be appealed to, and
the, necks Of the needy bowed TO their yoke
as the price of the boon of life.
Consider moment the condition of that class
of society by whose unremitting toll the
ascendancy OF man over the material universe
is maintained and his existence rendered pos
class comprises the vast majority of the race
Born OF parents whom brute passion impelled
TO the propagation of their kind: bred in
penury and the utter lack OF all those luxuries
and amenities of life which 60 so far to make
existence tolerable; their intellectual faculties
neglected and an unnatural and forced devel-
opment given to their basest instincts; their
childhood. the sweet vacation OF life. saddened
and deadened by the pinching OF poverty
and then, long before the immature frame
could support the severity of labor, forced
from the playground into the factory or fleldi
Then begins the obscure, uninterestiny drama
of a laborers 8 life; an unending procession of
toilsome days relieved by brief and rare holi-
days and harassed by constant anxiety lest
he lose all he claims from the world, a place
to labor.
He feels, in some dumb. unreasoning way,
oppressed by the frame of society, but it is too
heavy for him to lift. The institutions that
crush him down assume to his dulled brain
the inevitable and irresistible aspect of nat
ural laws. And SO, with only that dim sense
OF injustice which no subtlety of reasoning no
array of argument can Danish from the hu-
man soul when it feels itself oppressed, he
bows his head to his fate.
Let not any one falsely reply that I am
dreaming of a happiness without toll. of
abundance without labor. Labor is the nee
essary condition, not only of abundance but
of existence upon earth. l ask only that |
none labor beyond measure that others may
be idle, that there be ne more masters and
no more slaves among men. Is this too |
much? Does any fearful soul exclaim. i'm |
possible that this hope has been the dream OF |
men in all ages, shadowy and utopian
reverie Of a divine fruition which the earth |
can never bear? That the few must revel |
and the many toll; the few waste. the many
want; the few be masters. the many serve; the |
toilerS OF the earth be the poor and the |
idlers the rich, and that this must go on for
ever?
"Ah, no; has the world dreamed in vain?
Have the ardent longings of the lovers OF |
men been toward an unattainable felicity? Are |
the aspirations after liberty, equality, and |
happiness implanted in the very core Of our |
hearts for nothing?
mot so, for nothing that is unjust can be |
eternal, and nothing that is just can be impos-
sible.'
Since came across the echo OF my youth |
and recalled the half-forgotten exercises of |
mind it testities to have been wondering, |
not why wrote "Looking Backward" but |
why Il did not write it, or try to. twenty years |
ago.
Like most men, however, was under the |
sordid and selfish necessity of solving the |
economical problem in its personal bearings |
before could give much time to the case of /
society in general. 1 had, like others, to
fight my way to place at the worlds work
bench, where / could make a living. For a
dozen or fifteen years / followed journalism,
doing, in desultory way, as opportunity Of
fered. good deal of magazine and book
writing. In none of the writings
of this period did I touch on the
social question. but not the less all the while
it was in my mind, as a problem not by any
means given up. how poverty might be abol-
ished and the economic equality OF all citi-
zens Of the republic be made as much a mat