The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-01-25
READJUSTMENT NEEDED
OVERWORk, UNDERFEEDING, LACK
OF LEISURE, IGNORANCE OR ARIs-
TOCRACY SHOULD HAVE NO PLACE
IN THIS COUNTRY.

IN THIS COUNTRY.
No class is fit to rule other classes or
ever was. But that power which has
been attained in other countries by
few through the favor Of silly kings and
by conquests has been obtained in this
country largely by special privileges,
wrested from the people themselves.
The advantages gained by some monop-
oily quickly makes a man ruler over
many things. The banker is also rail-
road president and a merchant prince,
and his women guide the affairs of
leagues and churches, all seeking to
rule those who are not so rich as they.
Men are crowding one another FOR
work so that Unnecessary work is in
vented by the rulers in their charity or
ganization schemes to keep laborers out
of mischief. Yet brakemen, according
to Prof. Parsons. work II hours per day
in some cases. Why shouldn't those
brakemen labor eight hours and two
brakemen be employed in place of one?
Simply because the monopolist stands
In the way, DESTROYS not of repaying So
ciety for the privilege it has granted him,
but Of increasing his capital and conse-
quent power over others. The postman
works one-half the time which such
brakemen work at two and three times
as much pay, because the people can best
afford to pay living wages for good serv-
ice. The postofice deficit, which has
for years figured in all discussions
against public ownership of anything,
has lately been found to be the result,
not OF the extravagant pay to employees,
but of the outrageous determinations
against our government in carrier
charges by those very monopolists who
have received the largest gifts from the
government.
There is no need Of overwork, under
feeding, lack of leisure, ignorance,
weakness, and the aristocracy founded
on these There is need of readjust-
! ment.
Those whose grip is now frightened on
the natural monopolies with SO year
leases, will give way before long suf-
fering public aroused. Conditions for
| workers will improve in all places,
though it should become necessary for
an all conquering public to replace the
present all conquering trusts in obtain
ing possession of industries to an extent
which to the older generation seems i'm
possible.
These views as to the essential nui-
sance of aristocracies and the general d.
rection by which the new democracy
will conquer, are not the vagaries of
few agitators. They are settled convic-
lions, to the propagation of which men
and women all over the world are de-
voting their lives. Individuals are even
| coming out of the ranks of aristocracy
to help the democracy.
A man who has long had access to the
wealthiest society when he chose to
| enter it, w. D. Howells, than whom no
writer has a better audience, writes
thus of "a
Splendid pageantry, where all were so
high and proud,
They seemed scarce Of the earth, on
which they tread!
looked again and saw that flowery
space,
Stirring as if alive beneath the tread,
That rested now upon an old mans
head,
And now upon baby's gasping face,
Or mothers bosom, or the rounded grace
OF a girls throat, and what had seemed
the red
Of flowers was blood in gouts and gushes
shed,
From hearts that broke under that frolic
pace,
And now and then from out the dreadful
floor,
An arm or brow was lifted from the
rest,
AS if to strike in madness, or implore,
For mercy, and anon some suffering
breast,
Heaved from the mass and sank, and as
before,
The jewellers about them thronged and
pressed.
Ella Ormsby.
New Salem, Mass.