The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-04-25
TAE RICH AND THE POOR.
Tho Horrible Condition Which Has Grown
Up Under Our Class Government.

Ts7E RICH AND THE POOR.
The Horrible Condition Which Has Grown
Up Under Our Class Government.
There is one thing that may be said
about the French revolution, and espe-
cially Of the period covering the reign
Of terror in 1904: For once the nobili-
ty and wealthy received what the mass
es have suffered since the dawn Of his
tory; for once the blood of mobiles was
spilled by the masses, whereas the peo-
pies blood had been spilled for genera
tons fighting against each other in the
wars Of mobiles for power. For every
drop Of blood shed from the veins Of no.
bles thousand drops have been shed
from the veins Of the people. Is it not
foolish, then, that the noble blood shed
in the French revolution should be so
bitterly bewailed by historians, while
there is hardly a sigh or expression of
regret for the millions of toilers who
have fallen, unregretted and unknown,
in the battles of mobiles and in the bat
tie for bread? Yet these views survive
today and may be found in the newspa-
pers every day, and even the courts rec
ognize the distinction between the rich
and the poor, between those who have
everything and those who have nothing,
by fixing its penalties according to
wealth.
The man who slightly wounded Prick
was sentenced to % years in the peni-
Tertiary. A poor man who stole l cent
from United States mail wagon was
given nine years in the penitentiary
On the other hand, an Illinois banker
who embezzled $50, 900 was indicted on
% counts, found guilty and sentenced
to one years imprisonment on each
count, but the judge provided that each
term Of imprisonment should begin and
end together, so that the rascally bank
er will serve but one year in all. Har-
per, who stole 81, 900, 900 from the FL
deity bank, served six years; likewise
Ferdinand Ward Every day burglars
who steal few dollars worth of plum
der are given as long periods of impris-
onment as rich scoundrels who steal
millions.
When the poor steal from the rich,
the courts have no mercy ON them.
When the rich steal the savings Of the
poor, the courts prostitute their func-
tions to save the criminals. The courts
have been perverted into instruments to
serve the rich, just as they were once
instruments to serve king and noble.
And just as great as was the power Of
the noble to Cypress the masses, just as
great, if not greater, is the power Of the
capitalists to Cypress the laborers today
In changing from feudalism to CAPT.
talism, from the reign Of mobiles to the
reign Of capitalists, the essential differ
ences between the upper and lower class
es have not changed. The masses still
produce all wealth, while the nonpro-
ducers enjoy it. The masses are still
without wealth, while the capitalists,
like the feudal noblemen, have every
thing. 1t is still thousand times great
er crime for a poor laborer to commit a
crime against capitalist as it formerly
was for a serf to strike nobleman. The
shedding of drop of Tricks blood
in a court Of Justice outweighs a thou
sand of that of worhngmen. In every
avenue of life, even in the churches, the
rich and poor are divided into classes.
They do not meet together on an equal
basis One class is the robber class, and
the other is the exploited class; one
class produces without consuming what
it produces, the other consumes without
producing; one class has nothing, while
the other has everything
And yet there are people who say that
there is no class struggle; that there is
no class struggle between laborers and
capitalists; that there is no class strug-
gle between the possessors of wealth and
the dispossessed ACleveland Citizen.