The herald., 1896-06-14

l Ou TIE Otu6T manu- ZIG SOCluA CtA Az
creased to an alarming extent.
In the few years that England cotton
| manufacturers suffered from our save
war these evils were again notabE
increased and the number OF persons
whose health was affected through these
evils was estimated at million ana
half annually.
Think not you that women are in
| terested in economic conditions?
Think not you they should have an
| interest In taxation, war ana peace
when they are so vitally affected py sucn
conditions, and through them still 9TH
| ers bear their burdens?
Why should women study economies!
In England there are over two million
women employed In factories alone
this of course does not include teacners'
| servants, milliners and other employ
| ment. In a speech by Lord Ashley on
the ten-hour bill. he said: Mr. E., a
manufacturer, tells me that he exclus-
lively employs women at his mechanical
looms. and says that he prefers mar
ried women, especially mothers or ram
lilies which depend on them for support,
they are more attentive and tractaoie
| and are compelled to exert their
strength to the utmost to earn the bare
means OF subsistence, thus the virtues
and tenderness of woman's nature is
turned to her abuse and oppression"
These ara Lord Ashley's words not mine.
nor do we need to go to England. In
New York city there are 50,000 women
working on an average of 80 cents q
day. 1t Is needless to ask why the ranks
of our unfortunate sisters are so easily
filled with recruits. You and I--society
is largely responsible, and it is again
in turn affected by them. for the law of
action and reaction is not annulled be-
cause of our ignorance. 1t is true that
we should begin to ask whether 1t Is
fncr fN cny q, r1d
sense to battle with these results while
such and worse economic conditions re-
main. Would it not be more philosophic
and equally humane to abolish the
causes that tend to these results?
These causes are fundamental and are
involved in the nature and functions OF
governments and in our conceptions as to
what constitutes property. Sir Edward
Pollock, professor of law in the Univer-
sity of Oxford, commenting upon prop
erty rights in England and the United
States, says: 1.-THE .landless people have
strictly speaking no legal right to live or
to rest anywhere in England without ex-
press license from some owner of land: !:
that tn foreshOre of the seattle land
lying between high water and low water
mark may be open to landlesS England,
but even that is disputed point. Public
highways" he adds, ARE no exception
to the rule, because public highways
alO RldCcS VI tldHSlt anu iot VI iOdH6
ers, and no man has any right to be upon
the public highway except for the pur-
pose of transit" He still further adds
that it is a trespass against the legal
rights of the land owners to pass over
his land in a balloon, no matter at how
great a height above the surface of the
earth.''
AS mans nutriment must be drawn
from the soil (at least it has not yet
evolved beyond such necessity 1t is evil
dent that the owners of the soil control
the means of subsistence. and control the
services of others upon their own terms.
These are stated in economic terms by
Ricardo's law of rent. AS an illustra-
tion of what this law practically means
we will for moment look abroad, for
sit is easier to see the mote in our bro
thrS eye than the beam in our own.
Pray notice what landless England must
pay for the privilege of existence. THE
Earl of Derby draws from his tenant
farmers $S5O,000 year; this Is supple
yearly income s1.75O.O00' Earl Vane
has $500. 900 year in addition to his coal
| royalties which extend over 10000 acres.
Coal is worth to the Earl of Fitzwilliams
$500, 900 year in addition to $3.50 900 from
his estates in Yorkshire and Ireland u
! We will now look at the beam" The
| coal combine of Pennsylvania collects
an annual royalty of SIG, 100000 without
contributing one dollar Of capital or one
day of labor
Do you think women should study
economies? A group Of seven owners
individuals, corporations and foreign
noblemen own one-ninth Of all lands II
the United States. There are families
in the United States 100000 Crounc
numbers) One-half of them are home
less, one third mortgaged; homeless anc
mortgaged two-thirds. One firm of two
men own in the state California, Neva'
da and Oregon A500,0 900 acres. another
single owner over 1000 900 acres and 9TH
ers approximately that amount. These
large tracts are held for speculation ol
advancing rents, and it is right for wo
men to inquire whether such system
operates more strongly for the protec
ton of property rights than for the pro
lection of life. liberty and the pursui
of happiness, whether, indeed. the latte
is at all capable of realization unde
such conception of property and prop
erty rights.
Apropos of this especial phase of th'
economic question Col. Ingersoll recent
ly preached the much needed eVange
that our nation must not be allowed Il
become a nation of tenants, that ther
should be radical changes for protectin!
homes. His sermon was timely-sucl
conditions have always preceded revoltl
ton or decay When the French revolu
tion occurred century ago, one-third
the lands of France were in the hands o
the nobility, e-third in the hands o