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

HUMAN WRETCHEDNEss;
but Prof. Hourwitch, with band of
students from the University, sub,
Jected hundred of this crowd of two
thousand to searching analysis. Only
ten Of the one hundred selected at ran
dom belonged to labor unions. Only
two had worked for less than dollar
a day. Sixty four had earned from
one to two dollars day, and twenty
from two to four dollars. Fifty-nine
were native born Americans; forty one
were foreigners. The most of the men
were In the prime of life Only one
was below twenty, and four were above
fifty. They represented the following
occupations: Common laborers, team
sters, painters, walters, molders, bak-
ers, machinists, mir ers, cooks, sailors,
cigar makers, shoe makers, carpenters,
wood finishers, brick makers, clerks,
plumbers, steam filters and statesmen.
Several of the men were well educated.
One was a graduate of the University
OF Nebraska. Most of them had come
to Chicago seeking work, and none of
them found it. Of all the dishearten-
ing occupations, that of seeking work
and finding none, is one of the worst
The curse that in the Bible is said to
have followed the ''fall, " is often in the
modern world an unattainable boom.
1t was a quaint but true conceit of
Mrs BroWning's, that "God in cursing
gives us better gifts than man in bless
ing" But whether malediction or
benediction, work was what these men
wanted, and work was the one thing
they could not get.
Do you say that such men-men
honestly seeking labor and finding
n n3ne-men sinking into untimeIy
graves from hunger, exposure and
heart ache-are unworthy of your
sympathy and respects Do you brand
them as loafers, liars, reprobates, and
vultures7 If you do, your level of life
is a thousand fathoms lower than
theirs, and there is not vermin Gov
cred wretch among them who is not
an angel of purity and beauty in com
parison with you.
Mr.. Stead, in the same work from
which have quoted, says, Harrison
Street Police Station is one of
THE NERVE CENTRES
of Chicago. It is a central cesspool
whence drain the poisonous drippings
of the city. The floor is of stone. In
each cell there is one bench on which
the first comers can sit, while the others
stand. The place is lit with gas, and
warmed, but the atmosphere is heavy
and fetid and the cages and corridors
reek with the associations of vice and
crime.
This, my friends, is one of the places
in which the great rich city of Chicago
lodges a large share of the homeless
"army of the unemployed" Into this
criminal stock pot, where toughs and
felons stew, these honest and unfor-
tunate sons of toll are nightly plunged
by the officials of city government.
What do you think of it9 What does
God think of it9 Is this under ground
Inferno a suitable resting place for
human beings, for American citizens,
whose only crime is that they are poor
and out of works
''Why do ye wrong one to another9"
is the question that should be upon the
lips of every Christian patriot and
every lover of humanity, who has a
habitation and name on the soil Of
this great country which claims to be,
but is not, refuge for the oppressed
of all nations. The inhumanity Of
Chicago society is not exceptional. 1t
is more visible and somewhat more
brazen and remorseless there, perhaps,
than in other places, but the spirit of
it is manifest in all the cities, and is
growing in every community of our
broad land.
Here, my friends, is the problem of
the age. The great task which lies inn
mediately before the Christianity, the
philanthropy, the patriotism, and the
craftsmanship of this country, is how
to build up a public sentiment that
shall render the repetition Of it an i'm
possibility. Ii will not be denied that
there is deep dark yawning chasm
been capital and labor-a chasm which
threatens government and institutions
with remediless destruction. What
made this chasmG Wrongs wrongs
on the part of capital in multiplying
the burdens and hardships of labor,
and wrongs on the part of labor in it's
manifold unlawful methods Of retalia