Smyrna times., 1895-12-18
THE PURSUIT OF PROGRESS.


tlclans, have had their day for this year
le95-the elections are over. The
'worklnSman, " the poor farmer. " the
'oyer-worked and under-paid farmer
are words which will be less in point
and heard echoed less from platforms
until the campaign begins next wear
vi course, you have learned from Them
this year that the other party is guilty
OF false registration, of obtaining ma
turalization papers fraudulentIy; that
the other party is full of political sand
baggers; appoints thieves to public
once; that the other party makes a
machine of the police force and pro-
tects scoundrels on whom suspicion
tails. You will forget all this before q
year passes and then they will begin
ana tell you all over again, VARYING if
with talk on new subiect-tbe tariff
The growth of ''Blarneyism" and of
corporate wealth, tyranny and greed
has been side by side and mostly since
our struggle thirty years ago. which
Drought the death of chattel slavery.
The forwarnings Of Washington. JET
terson, jackson, and Lincoln seem to
have protited us very little. We have
followed the leadership of less patriotic
and much more selfish men. We have
believed the glamOr of general appear
ances and general results. Our popu-
Iatlon has grown about double: State
after State has been added to tbe
Union; thousands upon thousands of
miles OF railroad have been built: our
export trade has marvelously increased.
Then has come the march of inven-
tlons, the development of steam and
electricity and the wonderful perfec-
ton OF machinery. We have called
this growth and change progress. #
has changed the methods of labor of
the life and habits of our peoDle far ba-
Yond anything the most fervid imagi-
nation had been able to picture. Tt
has crushed the small producer and
and centralized production.
But has the march beneftted9 Tho
substitution of the machine for worl,
done by hand has not benefited the
mechanic 1t has not raised his WAGES
or shortened his hours of labor II
mas thrown many out of employment
ana transformed Independent mecban-
les INTO part to the machine who
feed the Unsuitable and work with the
ureless." Every few months we hear
OF new machine which will do the
work OF five to twenty men. Employ
one and displacing all the rest. The
machine has made shoes cheaper. but
your people do not have anv more {
Shoes and they find it about as difieult
10 BUY what they need at the reduced
price. The steam and electric cars will
carry them faster on a Journey but the |
Iares are about the same. Electric q
nights, fire and police alarm systems '
sewerage are prolific excuse S
Ior raising tax rates. Your farmer has !
round improved agricultural machinery S
put 1t has not lessened his hours of t
laoor-he also finds the prices for his q
wheat and corn has been cut in half
The Western farmer has found his nro-
Iucts bring his meagre returns and his
mortgage increasing. 1t is said we d
nave new South. With corn at 97c a "
oushel and cotton at &c a pound. I .
should think we would have a new Il
south; and, it seems, the South itself a
$ beginning to believe there is some q
hing rather new about it. II
How much has this march of prooress III
the town of Smvrna or @
lmilar towns anywhere in the conn
ry? How much do the 80 900 Della pl
'areans IN Philadelphia, Camden and al
lclnlty, the 10000 in New York and ID
ONE thousands in Baltimore bepest &c
ne delaware merchants and artisans? -
.hey simply tell the story of centra- III
zed production and consolidated %
apltal. They have not become rich. -
Iany OF them are not so well off as III
nose who remained by the old hearth III
tones, but the officers and managers 3"
the vast consultations whom tbev "c
srVe have become rich beyond the
reams CT avarice or the possible needs
any human soul. ST
FEELING of forests is not the end of
5riculture. Is the building of ma :
iines to be the end of progress? Are J
en- to be of no account? tn,
The struggle of the strike and how afo
IT. the lockout and the blacklist the Sun Sun
arshallng of armed men, the uneer- car
unity of employment with millions of Ca
le men, the tramp, the charity soup -
e over-crowded tenements, the dirty in T,
ea' the great mansion and the deer ber
TX, the cheap lodging houses, streets =
led with unfortunate women, crowded
LIS and lunatic asylums, suicides and {
.ugees from justice, corruption, Ha
lbery, subsidised press, the pur- and
ases OF European dirt (by wav of mu
rrlage) with American money. the 'oi
derpald women and girls. the toiling
uoren, the prices of farm products Reg
KING in the slough of despond-ean
IS panorama go on forever without
nglng the common folk together? I
standing before a future of serfdom abo
the dawning of a brighter, better Mr.,
than men have known, VIII thew acct
aae what the next step in our social Sup
'gress shall be9 They cannot escape char
"lll they crush monopoly, or will
nopoly crush them?
S'N OF DELAWARE, coal.
-. the
food