The herald., 1895-05-05
THE COMING REVOLUTION
James q. Clark

tween God and Mammon. DR.. George
Heron, with the Sermon on the Mount
and b. 0. Flower with the Arena ale.
perhaps, the two greatest leaders in the
conflict that is now upon us-a conflict
that must continue till the mightiest
question of all times is finally settled.
For the church to deny the premises and
logic of Heron is to mock God and ex-
change Christ for Barrabas.
For the secular world, so called, to
reject the social ethics of men like Flower
and his co-workers is to reject the Decla-
ration of Independence and degenerate
through capitalism into chaos. anarchy
and savagery. The crisis is here and the
Among the many excellent works which
are educating all classes along the lines
of right thinking and acting in this
grandest of all the ages is a little book
iust issued by the Arena Publishing COM
pany entitled The Coming Revolution,
by Henry l.. Call.
In this volume of 240 pages there is
condensed more OF the visible substance
of the supreme question and its solution
than IN any other work that has yet ap-
peared.
The following statement is taken bodily
from the first chapter:
1.-The condiniton OF the toiling masses
OF society had been truly described as a
truggle for existence.
1.-The wage-laborer. dependent upon his
days toll in the service of others for his
living the farmer whose eXertion pro-
cures from the soil his means of subsist-
ence and they whose labor in the trades
and in business obtains for them liveli-
hood, are all alike engaged in this
struggle. Without other means of sub
sstence. they must work if they would
ive they cannot lest from their toll tor
with all their exertions they are contiual-
ly harassed to make ends meet and are
lol RI
so much that men have to work, but the
constant grind to earn every dollar they
can. which makes the struggle for ex-
istence so intense; work itself is not un-
welcome but it is the anxiety. poverty
and wretchedness which is everywhere
the lot of labor, that causes men to look
with sullen dread and revolt upon this
struggle. In another sense, too. is the
condition of the toiling masses struggle
for existence. Their struggle is not only
hard, but also uncertain; however meager
their subsistence this is ever precarlous;
theirs is a contest for very life, in which
many fail. Each recurring crisis shows
how thin are the walls of chance which
ever divide success in this struggle, from
failure. Then it is that the merchant and
mechanic fail in business. the farmer
loses his farm, and. penniless and bur-
dened with dept, they together sink into
the condition of wage-laborers. Mean
while their ruin has also driven labor
out of employment and the ranks OF the
unemployed always full swollen from
these various sources, become now so
crowded that all cannot hope to obtain
positions. A competition ensues in which
some must inevitably fail. However re-
mote the tramp and pauper may seem
from their more fortunate fellows. they
have but failed in the common struggle.
Nor is the fault altogether theirs. The
laborer turned out Of employ yment be-
A. of HE Iowa md
able to get work because all positions are
filled, is hardly to blame. The accident
or misfortune from which he suffers
might as well have happened to any
other. And as for the large and increas-
ing number of farmers, merchants and
ruin, it will be hard to convince these
that it is solely because of their untitness
to survive that they have failed in the
struggle.
This struggle with all its hardships is
said to be due to the position OF man in
the world. Such a struggle for life exists
in the brute kingdom and it is therefore
natural; unless by such struggle the
weaker members of society are weeded
out the world Will become over-populated
and it is therefore necessary ; this struggle
both rids society of Its weaker mem bers
and develops the stronger. and is there
fore beneficial. By such considerations
xs these we are taught to become recon-
ciled to these conditions; and while we
may pity the unfortunate. any attempt
to prevent or relieve their sufferings is
condemned as unwise and Intellectual.
'Yet the position of man in the world is
far from unfavorab e. The world is
large enough for all, but everywhere un-
ccuiped-withheld from use. 1t is, too
SO bountiful that if labor is but allowed
to exert itself for brief season the cry is
raised of production. The markets
are glutted, mines m ust be closed, mills
must be shut down and labor must be
turned out of employment. because there
is no demand for is products. Nor was
the labor Dman ever more effective than
now. Machinery has come to his aid and
with it he can accomplish so much in
every branch of production that labor
itself is becoming supertuous, drug on
the market. man is crowded out of the
field of industry because his labor has be-
come too efficient. Surely when the world
is large enough for all. when its bounty
more than suffices for all the wants of
man, and when his labor is only too
efficient in procuring the satisfaction of
his wants-surely in face of these facts
the position Of man in the world cannot
be held responsible for his woes; want
and wrechedness scannot be preached as
the necessary and natural lot of man.
The poor will not believe that their
struggle and want are necessary so long
AS they see in contrast with their con-
dition tie possessions and idleness of
the rich. This is not only the age of
paupers; it is also the age OF million
aires; the hovel of the poor is under the
shadow of the palace of the rich. How
ever stinted and wretched may be the lot
of the masses they see here no evidence
of want. All is, instead, the most lavish
luxury and display; everv thing that
wealth can procure to satisfy the wants
or pander to the appetite and pride of
man, to astonlsh the gaze of the beholder
belongs to these favorites of fortune. Yet,
Notwithstanding all their expenditures
the fortunes of the rich are ever swelling
into vaster and yaster proportions; the
number of the rich too is fast increasing.
The boards and the squanderings of these
alike show that the world is filled with
abundance. They also show the wonder
full effectiveness of labor, for labor, either
of the past or present is after all, the
source of all value and the means by
which all wealth is brought into being.
No. the position of man in the world is
benefcently and wisely ordained; nature
is bountiful of her stores and mans labor
powerful to procure these for his use.
1t is not to any lack of wealth IN the
world but instead to mans institutions
which have made the distribution of it
and have given to the few so much that
we must look if we would know why the
many have so little.
This wealth, concentrated in the hands
of the rich, is as necessary to labor as it
is to living.
Before labor can exert itself it must