St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-11-02

specific legislation affording the work.
ingmen of the United States any relief
while present systems exist. l believe
that the remedies for the ills and evils
of the day must be fundamental in their
character. Specific legislation has
proven abortive in the past, partly be-
cause the executive department of the
state or nation has not been in sympa-
thy with the enforcement Of such legis.
lation, and partly because the source
of the evils that the special legislation
would mitigate or destroy are not
touched at all by such legislation; and,
thetefore. even if enforced, would prob
ably be disappointing in its results.
Specific legislation concerning any par
ticular grievance that labor may have
is but a palliative applied to a surface
irritation. 1t may alIay the pain for
little while. but eventually it is found
that the source of the difficulty must be
discovered and removed before a per-
manent cure can be effected. Labor is
suffering in this country today be-
cause the system is diseased, and the
system must be purged to "SOund
and pristine health" before per-
manent and satisfactory relief can
come. The GENERALIZATION of the wealth
of the nation in the hands of the few
has so destroyed or restricted the pur-
chasing power of the people that the
business OF the country is enormously
curtailed, ana closed factories. idle
labor, paralyZed industry of all kinds
are the inevitable results. Ii the wealth
of the nation were as eQuitably distrib-
uted as it would be but for the iIlegiti-
mate methods in existence, by which
wealth is so centralized, the business of
the country would be augmented to
ample employment for every man who
desired to be employed, his wages
would be
satisfactorily Remunerative,
and, by reason of the excess demand for
labor over its supply. labor would be
the master of its own destinies and the
architect of its own fortunes. Labor
now is suffering from the intense COM
petition with itself. Given larger pur-
chasing power to the people, labor
would find itself so engaged that the
Intensity of the competition would be
mlnlmized, and l believe competition
itself would disappear. The policy OF
our party, then, is to destroy all the
systems and practices 10y which wealth
IS unhOllly and uni justly absorbed from
productive industry. There is no dispo-
Stlon to eliminate from our economy
the accumulation of wealth. We have
no quarrel with the man who succeeds
in accommodating more wealth than his
nelghbor, provided it is done with all
the natural laws Of trade operating
around him; provided he does it leglti-
mately, does itAhOneStly.
For thirty years this country has been
IN the hands of the servants OF the p0-
litlcal power of wealth. Wealth has
had nothing to complain of in the way
OF legislation. Though it enacted no
prior pledges, it was wisely content
with getting its servants into power,
satisfied that when that was accom-
pltshed it would have nothing whatever
to complain of, nor has it ever had any
thing to complain of.
Now we demand that the servants of
lndustrlalism be put into power, and if
that Is done experience teaches us, and
history justities us in believing that
hencefOrth industrlalism will have no
occasion to complain of legislation nor
of the enforcement of the laws that NAV
be passed. We had much legislation
calculated, as we supposed, at the time
OF It's enactment, to benefit labor, but
strangely enough. for the most part the
legislation has never been heard of
after 1t was finally consummated, or if
so, IL has been so laxly enforced, if en-
forced at ali. that the benefits 1t was
supposed to be fruitful of have never
materialized. We now have laws upon
our statute books whose rigid enforce
ment would bring partial relief at least,
to the labOring classes; whose rigid en-
forcement would undoubtedly embar-
rasS. if not destroy many of the COM
bines through which wealth is central
lied, and is now directing the executive
functions Of the government. With
out such enforcement by the exec
utive no legislation will be effective.