The herald., 1897-03-01
noNDAY, nARcH I. 1907.
THE ROOTS OF Discomfort

Under the above heading Prof. ROSS,
Of Stanford university, who is doing per-
haps more than any other man to ad-
vance the economic conditions or Call
fornia and the great west, has contribu-
ted a series Of papers to the New York
Independent.
Among the causes of the prevailing
and widespread dissatisfaction is mem
toned. firstly, the absence Of free land.
Not until within the past decade has
this last great resource of our country
been finally and irrevocably Withdrawn.
seWith the closing of this conduit, the
social safety valve, these classes under
pressure are driven downward instead
of outward; and the unemployed that
were a few hundred thousand in 1877
became a million in 1886 and over two
millions in 1894. The lack-all foreign
immigrant, instead of being shot harm
lessly forth upon the prairie to inhabit
and subdue it, must enter the market
for labor, and in fierce struggle for
places he slowly but surely depresses
the wages and sets back the standard of
life of the native worlkingman."
Secondly, with the growth Of manufac-
lures has come concentration and the
ownership of the tools of Industry by
the capitalist. Hence, self-employment
has become more and more uncommon
and uncertain, the small workman and
his little workshop have been driven to
the wall, and his living has come to de-
pend absolutely upon the will of the
capitalist manufacturers who are en-
gagged in suicidal competition among
themselves. With the increased pro-
ductivity thus bound to ensue, we have
the spectacle on the one hand of few
enormously enriched by this increased
productivity, and on the other thous-
ands of men, able and willing to work,
reduced to condition of trampery and
beggary.
Thirdly, in many lines competition has
broken down and ceased to be a suff1-
cient regulator Of price or rate. We may
instance the recent collapse of the steel
rail pool, and behold the astonishing
spectacle of Republican newspapers
throwing up their hands and shouting,
"Glory. glory" because by virtue of a
beneficent policy OF protection we have
go enlarged our facilities as to be able
IL. 4.
SIT per ton while the London price is
quoted at $24. But of the workingmen, Of
the fearful degradation of the American
laborer that has been brought about in
order to accomplish this end, Republican
papers remain discreetly mum. Yet 1t
is naught but the inevitable result of a
arise trusts and monopliee, wherein the
profits by combination accrue not to the
farmer, the wage-earner the clerk, the
professional man or the merchant, but
to the capitalist exclusively. "Dr.
Spahr computes that per cent Of Amer
ican families own So per cent Of the
wealth, while II per cent own seven
eights of it,"
So much for the remote causes. For
the immediate causes are mentioned
firstly, the change from a level to an
appreciating currency. Gradually the
country has been brought to ADOPT for
its standard metal that has appreciat-
ed so per cent in twenty-three years,
and that will now buy 81 per cent more
than ii would on an average during the
years 1S67-1S77. I'VE must accept a
regime of prices, which If 1t continues
In the future as In the past, bids US