The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1900-10-20
poor MAN'SCHANCE
WHAT OppORrlVIrN MAS HE WHEN
DEPENDENT UI' on O'rHERS:
The circumstances Surrounding "a
Poor Wan Have Improved. hut
the Conditions Are. the Same
nbnr Struggles Seem to lie II
Question of More Wages hut uIli-
niatclN Are For More Freedom.

What chanrr has the poor man to-
day: Has his condition improved?
These ;trr Questions not hard to answer.
y" man has Il ,'ilanre who hasn't got I,
JOB. The circumstances surrounding
the, poor nlun have improved. but the
conditions are The same.
THESE conditions are no different to-
day i.''m what they We're in the ancient
days of white slavery in Greece and
I;"rlt. This is indeed Il beautiful and
grand country in many ways 1t is
rich with the spirit of progress and in
V"nl"n, rich hy nature. but the poor
mans condition is no better than if he
Nr!t 4 slave.
MI this country has done for him has
been to give him Il little more elbow
rnnM. He has Il great beautiful coun-
try to roam over. but he is no better
off: in Fact. NOT as We'll off. as the slave
Of nId
We used f"nuly to figure the Amer
lean who earned his bread by the sweat
"t his brow and voted with his party
rs a sovereign, and we invited him To
regard himself in that light.
Really, however. without the means
of livtlihuud in his own hands but in
tn" hands OF another, he is scarcely the
regal shape we figured him. The work.
iuGmHn out of Il job can have little JOY
ulll Of his Vote, and if hr is very poor,
il he is not ma king bot ends meet, he
can hardly will good to others. the
sovereign act Of the fires. man because
he has none to- VIII.
1t is true that he may rebel. that he
may r.l,u.Irr his rlnIIuymrnt when he
mas ON" ana does mnl think himself
Justly paid. h,ll Without the means OF
liVrlihnnI H. has NO choice but to seek
some other "nll'l"Hnirnt and his choice
is scarcely fire. dom. He may, Of course
i"..nlilt IL tramp. and in the loose play
of our circumstances he may not suffer
more than any nl hers who remain patti
rntlN at work.
But, then. ii is our circumstances that
bpfrtnI him. not our conditions: these
are the same for him as the working
mans conditions everywhere.
The only moment of sensible or posi-
tive political sovereignty for him is
that of voting; but in that moment he
parts with his sovereignty for, term
of months or years, ithont respect for
ths man shsss ID ma sNs iuags X! e
he elects, he gives, and the gods them
selves cannot resume their gifts,' much
less a poor devil who has voted with
his party and has nothing to eat.
For such ii citizen of the freer state
liberty can scarcely be said to exist in
the SENSE that it exists for the more
fortunate. He cannot choose, he can
NOT sacrifice himself for Others for he
is already sacrificed; he can impart no
advantages. for he has none, and he
can have mono until he has bettered
his fortunes. II" remains in the savage
Necessity of Srlt-HSsrrtiun, in the war
fare which maniieStS itself in Strikes
riots. muNtitS murders. The poor man
knows. if the rich man does not know.
that Nh" poorer man has always less
liberty than the richer man, just as
certainly as he has money. If he has
not the means Of Il livelihood in his
own hands hr cannot come and go
time: he cannot choose the kind OF
work he will do, as the richer man
measurably can: he is often enslaVed to
hateful and lOthsOme services for 9TH
rrs. such as each should do for him
self. Till q man is independent he is
not free: as long as he must look to the
pleasure or profit Of another man fol-
his living he is not independent. His
employer may not mean to Cypress him