The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-28

lJ6m the beginning of historic time
tRA.s has always been a labor ques-
ton. Read between the lines. the al
most NEUROLOGICAL story of the He
brews in Egypt. with the taskmasters,
the hard-hearted Pharaoh and the
making of bricks without straw, have
had their counterparts within the last
decade. A nearly similar condition
may be perceived in the early history
of the Grecian cities; and the struggles
Of democracy or aristocracy may be
lread in such Of the laws of Scion and
Lycurgus as have come down to US.
In Rome it was much the same, when
the plebian was in perpetual insurrec-
ton against the patrician class. until
the constructive genius of Caesar put
an end to it all by making both subor-
dfnate to the law. when the turbulence
of the populace ceased as its wrongs
were redressed and its rights defined.
With various. but unimportant modi-
hcauons agriculture was conducted on
Z communal tenure. Patriarchal in
origin, with political power vested in
the head of the family. the principle of
family tenure was extended to the
tribe, or gems or clan. In the cities
: where trade and manufactures were
the chief support of population. the ap-
y pllcation OF the communal principle
was greatly modified. owing to the
greater compleX1ty of the relations. 1t
was not as clanSmen or members of a
family tribal unit that cohesion was
possible, but the principle OF aSsocia-
ton was developed into guilds consist
ing OF craftsmen in the numberless
arts. Conquest gradually developed
the spirit OF caste, the conquerors
usurping the functions of government
but rarely interfering with the habits
and customs Of the common people,
whether agriculturists or artizans, be-
cause the same customs were common
to the whole. The arts were held in
The families and bequeathed. as secret /
E&1sssses, from generation to gener-
a8an. The individual lived and died
ffITwhatever strata of society he was
born in. and this condition was nearly (
similar from the Indian ocean to the /
Spanish peninsula \ few scattered (
islands Of the ancient world still survive
in India. portions of Russia, in the
Danubian Alps and in the Pyrenees,
that have come down through the cen
turtles nearly unchanged.
In a few instances. as the commercial (
cities Of Tyre, Sidon Carthage and /
others. the trade guilds obtained par
ticipation in the government, and often (
controlled it entirely, and this later be-
came predominant force in the cities
cities Of Phoenica or Greece. The Ma
sonic order. or at least the first three
degrees of IL, is a curious survival of
the system of trade guilds. and it is
more probable than otherwise that the
city of Tyre gave it birth, as the Ma
zfons claim. as for many centuries
Phoeniciau guilds were planted
throughout the entire Mediterranean
basin. Wherever found they were much
alike. and they underwent but little
change from the earliest times down to
the close of the Thirty Years war;
when they went into decay and finally
completely disappeared with the death
of the feudal system and communal
land tenure.
The Rome of Cincinnatus was a quiet
village commune. and it was not until
she became the center of the spoils of
universal war did the fierce struggle
for supreme power and a fairer divi-
sion become manifest between the
naughty Etruscan nobility and the
trading. constructive. plebian Greek,
and ended in the triumph of the guilds,
as it was through the support of the
guilds. the unions of artizanS and the
many agricultural communes of Italy,
that enabled Caesar to obliterate the
power Of the patricians. which they OBJ
tanned while the senate, consisting of
themselves or their creatures, was the
'Sole repository Of Roman power.
But Rome. however far she carried {
her conquestss seldom interfered with {
local laws or customs, and when at
last she went down, she left the world {
as she had found it-a segregated {
mass of municipal governments, held
together by tribal relations or by a ]
composition of trade guilds and agri- I
cultural communes. either governed by c
an hereditary chief or by council i
composed from the guilds themselves. /
The relation was natural. kindly, and i
generally uneventful. for but few of the r
municipalities produced sufficient eX- i
citing material to make into history, n
all, however, were distinctly separate r
from our modern conceptions OF de- q
mocracy and trade unions in the fact .
that side by side, in the same state or
municipality, along with the freemen .
comprised in the castles, were slaves. e
gained in war, who were the property =
of the lord. or of the democracy. or =
whichever were the governing factors. :
Under the growing influence of Chris II
tianity and the power of the church, :,
the slave system was gradually modi- "
- and was replaced throughout y
E,,-o,,cee> by the feudal system. This re-
z,11f followed naturally as the conquer
inc hordes found people existing with a
property rights defined on a communal II
basis, where the principle was that Z
neonie belonged to the land (Or other n
property and not the property to the a.
people. While in some instances. N
among the den9ocracieS. this property el
definition was vested in the municipal IL
d. or state. the condition mi no diff tie
Ference 70 the conquerors. they simply II
.o-.f1scated state. property and people. &C
The communal freeman, living on the W
common property of the commune, was n,
4 fixture. and readily merged iato the
sesf when his land was confiscated. If NJ,
he king or noble in whom were vested NJ
The sovereignty of a domain, sold or II,
disposed of a part of ii, the people,, IL
property and all went with it. =,
Certain, but limited portions, in % %
europe escaped the process of dissolu- -
ion involved by Gothic or Hunnish ~
conquest In England certain territory ev
vas left TO the villages by the Nor or
mans, subject to their use. and desig- 10
lated as the commons, and it was ow- te
ng to political recognition of this COM al
nul,ai increment that the lower house w
1 the English parliament had its rise. te
n Scotland. at least in the highlands M
he government by clan or tribal m
s,iefs continued until within quite a tr,
'ecent period. and did not disappear Of
&aIly till the battle of Killekrankiel ST