The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1907-10-05

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friend II the poles court. mean more.
than all abstract consid erations Of
citizenship. He OF course has 9TH
or followers-place-h holders crooks,
gamblers, thieves and prostitutes: but
the root OF his power lis firmly i'm
bedded in the human waste of the
industrial system that testers in the
lodging houses Of his district. Here
at last we see the foundation electo-
rate; and a. purchasable electorate Is
only possible where you have ma,
jor1ty of exploited and disinherited
men in whom the moral sanctions are
dead. II you follow the system to
the courts, you will find a judge NOM
mated and elected or appointed
through the combination of the power
of surplus money exploited from disin-
herited laborers on the one hand: or,
on the other, through votes purchased
from this same laborer by the political
side of the combination after he has
become wholly debauched. These are
the links Of the endless chain Of,
graft that, beginning with land mon
opoly, tariffs, and other special privi-
leges granted by the government for
the exploitation Of free labor industri-
ally, finishes it's perfect work Of ply
steal and moral ruin by connecting
through their purchased franchise with
the human waste that it has made;
thus seemingly overriding justice, and
rising superior to the moral law.
Have spoken too strongly? Con-
slider these facts:
Recently in Chicago there has been
harvested by the gallows surpris-
ing crop Of boy bandits. This group
of youthful criminals has been especi-
ally notable in that they all reached
the industrial age with good records,
and had begun work and seemed ef-
Acient, when without the occurrence of
anything of Importance, so far as has
been found, they gave up their posi-
lions and began numbering men in
cold blood for thirty cents. There
seems little doubt that this action
followed from a change Of credence-
from the impossiblity." as one Of them
expressed 1t, "of there being any God"
Here we seem to have a break down
of the most fundamental sanctions of
the moral law.
Again, recently a firm or coal dealers
In metropolitan city were charged
with political and industrial graft In
the matter Of certain public contracts
which had been awarded them. One
of these contracts was for furnishing
coal to the county institutions. The
buildings were so cold that an investi-
cation was held, and it was proved
that they were furnishing the county
wards with undergrade coal, not only
robbing the people as taxpayers, but
robbing the helpless insane and aged
poor, making them to suffer from the
cold during the most severe winter we
had known for many years. To do
this, the investigation showed they had
bribed the engineer, and had sent out
small lots of superior coal for the pur-
pose of the test required by law. One
of the witnesses sought to Justify this
contractor on the ground that all con-
tractors did the same thing. Isn't it
interesting when the common law rule
of custom is invoked to excuse steal
ing, bribery, and the inhuman cruel
ties of boundless greed?
On the day left Chicago, the even
ing papers in great headlines told of
the making by one. man that day in
the wheat pit Of 100000. The entire
tone Of the article giving publicity to
this crime was one Of laudation.
These are but types. The general
publicity given to this side of our In
dustrial and political life has caught
the imagination Of the people, and
fundamental conceptions Of justice and
morality, Of recompense and retribu-
ton, have been overturned and extin-
guished. We have cultivated a new
idolatry; but the idolators Of this age
do not worship the Golden Calf-they
worship the gold in the calf.
~ay be said that this breakdown Of
faith In the moral order Of the uni
verse is the legitimate fruit of a gen.
GRAFTON Of grating in. high places. ac-
companied by the growth Of intelli-
| gence among the, masses Of the people.
| This attitude of the common, thought
| OF the working world discredits hon,
est effort and fair dealing-1n fact all
| the truly great qualities Of mind and
heart. and puts a premium upon that
! quality which has made american
sharp practice byword among the
! nations
| 1t is true that the moral test vet
inheres In life. It is true that 1t comes
as certainly to the child Of the slums
as to the child of the boulevards. But
to childhood at both ends of the social
order. the moral test is coming on un-
fair terms. To the slum child, anaemic
gray-blooded, ignorant and debased
the moral test comes so unfairly that
when failure and vice and crime fol-
low hard upon its uncertain steps
even the coarse underworld" pities
the lost waif. In the child Of the
\ successful exploiter, the princely graf
/ ter, the very surfeit of wealth and the
pride and pomp that it cngenders
! weaken the moral hbers, degenerate
taste, and finally break down the ulti-
mate sanctions Of the soul. At both
ends Of the social order there u.s. con-
slant tendency to degeneration.
How can we escape tho reign OF
graft? Only by establishing justice
And this not by here and there re-
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