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I TORONTO : Bill & Co., Pbintbrs, 13 Adblaidb Stbbr Eabt. 1880. CANADA NATIONAL LIBRARY BIBLIOTHtoUE NATIONALE Ow- THE CONDITIONS OF LABOUR AND MODERN CIVILIZATION. I .U " Two things have I rrqaimd of Thee ; deny them not before I die : '• jRemove far from me vanity and lies ; give me neither poverty nor riches ; feed me with food convenient for me : " Lest I be full, and deny Thee, nnd say. Who is the Lord ? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my Golly the favourites of some coterie of wire-pullers, and the people literally have no choice or voice in the selection of candidates. From out of our chartered rings, or the legally constructed corpora- tions, spring our legal plunderers ; this is the source which breeds our modern millionaires. "In the sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread." But who ever knew of a millionaire accumulating his millions by his honest industry and frugality ) If so, his accumulations cannot be gainsaid ; he has a right to them. A man's righteous share of the wealth of this world is just what he has created by his own industry, and no more, nor no less. I say, then, without fear of successful contradiction, that never since creation's dawn did a man become a millionaire by his own individual industry and frugality — never. Millionaires are the outcome of our modern civilization ; and a very unwholesome outcome they are, because their millions in some way must have been filched from the labour of others, and for the millionaire to have become so financially bloated thousands must have been impoverished and made financial skeletons. Millionaires are monomaniacs who have piled up pyramids of gold that they can never either use or utilize, and they have accomplished their achievement by appropriating the labour of their fellow-men, for from no other source could their wealth have come. Labour is the source, the alpha and the omega of all wealth. Millionaires are therefore robbers of the most dangerous kind, because they come upon their fellow-men and spoil them " legally ;" for you know he does everything " lawfully." All his scheming, and plot* ting, and circumventing, and speculating was done upon the lines of law and order. In fact, all through he was a genuine legalized plunderer of the labour of others, and hence a criminal more to be feared by far thaa any vulgar, brutal highwayman ; because the latter opens upon you boldly with brute force, and there is some chance of you being able to 12 defend yoarself by force of amiB and possibly foiling him ; bat in the other case you are borne down by all the subtle forms of " law," and there is no possible chance of escaping from the fangs of the epoiler. In our modern civilization there is nothing more apparent than tk^ ready disposition manifested by every one to get down on their knees and worship the golden calf. The possessor of wealth may have got it by the most dishonourable and infamous means ; but that does not matter in the least. Homage is paid to him and his ill-gotten wealth. He is called a smart man, a deuced clever man, a very successful man, etc. He may be reeking with moral filth ; he may be covered over with the leprous sores that mark an ignorant, illiterate, pestiferous spoliator ; but if he has wealth he is fawned upon, courted, and as much deference is paid to him as if he was a demi-god. We were told lately that a leprous creature, designated the Duke of Portland, died worth one hundred millions of pounds sterling, or $500,000,000. He went to his account ; his carcase was deposited in the inevitable six feet by two of mother earth ; but not a centime of his millions could he take with him beyond the " bourne from whence no traveller returns." But in order that this wretch might die worth this pyramid of gold, who could sum up the suffering, the pinching poverty, privations and tortures that thousands of his tenant slaves and labouring helots may have had to encounter and pass through 1 This modern brood of millionaires are crowding upon us in America. There are now hundreds of men each of whom are worth from one million up to hundreds of millions — a money oligarchy that is moving forward to destroy republican simplicity and true freedom. The financial legislation of the Bepublic during the last twenty years has called into being a dangerous class of monopolists, known as the rings composing the National Bank system. These men control the finances of the country, and manipulate the money of the people, under legislation dictated by the banks. These bank syndicates and bondholders, together with the whole tribe of Wall-street gamblers in stocks — Shylocks and usurers of every type and degree — altogethe. form such powerful moneyed corporations that they actually defy Congress or any law of Congress. Entrenched behind the ramparts of their money-bags, they are defiant. Tnere is certain to come in the near future a collision between the rights of the American people and the privileges vested in the Bank po> .tentates by previous wrongful legislation of Congress. t 4 t 13 When the hanks saj that their financial organization is so compact and strong, that they defy the people ind congress alike, it means this, that the American people must either submit to be subjugated to the dictation of the banks, or the banks must yield to, and go down before, the sovereign will of the American people. The banks have a surplus of $195,000,000 in their cofiers, and with this, they foolishly think, that they can corruptly buy up the votes of 46,000,000 of people. We shall Bee which will conquer. We do not hesitate to aver, that the plutocracy and shoddy aris- tocracy, which has arisen in America since tlu slave owners' rebellion, comprise wilhin their unholy confines the only really dangerous and criminal class on American soil. This criminal class howl for a " strong government," and the man on horseback at its head. This criminal class demands a standing army of 200,000 men, man- killers, with arma of precision and bayonets of steel. For what purpose ? Why, to massacre the people. These corporate vampires and monopoliz- ing rogues, are conscious that they have robbed the people, and that their pyramids of gold and riches have been stolen, plundered from the people, under the guise of ** law." Hence they are uneasy, and afraid that they should be made to disgorge, and their system of plundering stopped and finally brought to an end. Hence they see in their victims, — the toilers of the nation, an outraged pople, an army of communi<verninent ; and probably only for that fact we might not have heard so many platitudes about " supply and demand," buying in the cheapest market and selling in the dearest," and such puerile phrases that Usurers and Hard Money men are so fond of quoting as gems of wisdom. Shtlook — I think you are trying to discuss these matters in a fair ■pirit ; but it seems to me that you have not proved much. Worker — As yet, perhaps ; but give me time, and I think you will And that I have proved more than you reckoned on. All wealth is the inroduct of the labour of workers, either of brain or muscle, or both com- bined. Money of itself alone is not wealth, or the chief good. A starving ■an, if he had a pyramid of gold and could not get food, would still be a poor man. One loaf of bread to that man, in such a case, would be of more value to him than all his gold. Money is only of value when taken as the representative or measure of so much labour done. Any thing is dear when it is scarce. At present money is scarce, as the phrase goes j •aid labour is cheap and plenty. This condition need not neceesarily be. Ages of persistent legislation, in. favor of Gold-bags and Usurers, have- ■ade it so; just the condition of things they want, until Bothschilds and Usurers of every degree are able to control all the money and dictate their tflorms to labour. Vast masses of property and money are exempt from taxation; and hoarders rejoice, but labour mourns in sack-cloth and ashes. Legislation can and must reverse this order of things. Shtlook — I see you are growing quite eloquent and philosophic ftbout these matters ; but how will you legislate to caase the changes you desire 1 Methinks things must just take their course. WoRKBR — By no means. Mr. Shylock. There is an underground swell of public opinion going on that ere long will rise to the surface, and burst the bands that are now strapped around labour, and effect the changes that I have indicated. The United States, in her straits, found certain relief by an issue of two thousand millions of Greenbacks, and prospered, notwithstanding her gigantic civil war, in a way that she never did before ; and it was only when she contracted this non-interest bearing money down to about three hundred millions, or about one-seventh of what was previously in circulation among the people, and issued instead tha vast volume into interest, bearing non-taxable bonds, that misery without computation came with ever-increasing force npon the people. 1%is Iniqnitmis legislation was the work of Hard Money men and UBUieis ; bat it will be rereised at no distant day. Justice will triumph and labour • \ . r . 23 be relieved from thraldom worse than the old slavery of the South. This contraction of the people's money accounts for the long-protracted deprea- sion. Again, later still, we have in the case of France another lesson how untold misery may be averted by wise financial legislation. She waa down in the very slough of degredation and misery, when patriotic states- men issued fifteen hundred millions of French Greenbacks ; set every wheel uf industry instantly in motion, and in a short time her workers produced every kind of work that very quickly brought back to her the gold indemnity she had to pay Germany, of one thouaaud millions of dollars. And the process is still going forward of n>a enrichnmnt. Had the statesmen of the United States pursued a similar line uf patriotic action, and not been governed so much by their propensities of cupidity and greed the country would have continued to prosper ; there would have been no depression, and in the end the Shylocks themselves would have been better off. Shylook — We will now close, but again shortly resume this inter- esting discussion. • M No. II. Shylock — I am glad to meet you again, Mr. Worker, to continue our talk upon the most important topic, in my estimatiim, that could pos- %\\Ay engage our attention. Truth is a jewel, and well worth searching after. Usury has been engrafted upon our Hard-money systeln for so many ages that it now permeates every business transaction ; and the ambition of men is to accumulate a fortune, then retire from the struggles of a business life into quietude, and live the remainder of their days on the interest of their accumulations I think you will find it hard to persuade the world to give up the practice of usury. WoRKBB — I have not the slightest objection that the ambition you have pointed out should be amply enjoyed, provided that the accumula- tions be arrived at without hurting anyone. Every man has a right to enjoy all that he honestly laboured for ; but honesty and labour never hurt; usury does. Usury is the absorption of labour ; it robs labour of that which it honestly worked for, and appropriates in its insatiate maw that for which it never gave one hour's honest toil. You talk of the long time that usury has been practised ; the antiquity of anything does not prove its righteousness. Man has found out many plans by which he can over- reach his fellow-man, but of them all usury is at once the most plausi- ble and the worst The Old and New Testaments denounos usuiy 24 -wherevefT it is spoken of in their pages ; it is classed with wickedness of ihb fitst magnitude, and as a thing accursed ; and to praetieeit leads to ■ure ruin. All the experience of mankind and all history, both Pagan «nd Christian, cry out against it. Shtlook — You are waxing warm ; keep cool. WoRKBR — My language may be emphatic, but it is plain. I mean what I say. Shylook — Yes, but you have given us no facts, no statistics, no quotations from the Scriptures, or other approved authorities, to prove your positions. Worker — You shall have thom ; my only want will be time and space to set them out ; it will not be for lack of the material that you call for. I have not forgot my ciphering. A farmer bought a farm, say in 1868, at $10,000: Paid hall cost in cash $5,000 Eleven years' interest at 8 per cent 4,400 Interest on last note 400 Showing loss of 1 1 years* labour $9,800 You received the $5^000 And eleven years' interest, compounded 7,500 Interest on cash and mortgage, compounded 7,500 Usurer pocketed in 1879 $20,000 And you, Mr. Shylock, still own the farm. This is the way it per- meates and mixes with the Hard-Money system of finance. In the name •of Jehosophat, who can stand that except the usurer? I should think this ought to satisfy you on the head of statistics. If not I will give you more. Shylook — That will do on statistics at present. Worker — Well then, I will go on to facts. Is it not a fact sustained l)y computations in arithmetic and mathematics that if one dollar had been ■started on its journey of usury — compound interest — on the morning that ihe Saviour of mankind was born, it would, in the year 2,000, have rolled up 35 golden balls, each of them the size of this planet 1 It would hava •done this; but in its course how many — ah 1 what myriads of mankind would have been crushed beneath its Juggernaut wheels) Ood says, by the sweat of his brow man shall earn his bread. The usurer says, that applies tb every one but me; for I have invented a plan whereby — with- out working — I can command the work and sweat of workers. 'Tis true, T / I • ( T 25 / • I it is only a man-made invention, and acquiesced in only by its golden baits and allurements. The laws of man, I know, look at it with a squint ; but still they allow it, and call it legal ; and it is my potent and favorite engine, which will not only gratify my love of gold, but the way it works gratifies also my ambition and love of power, by subjugating labour and making men my bond-slaves. Again, is it not a fact that the usurer has been hated and despised by all humanity since the flood 1 And why 1 Is it not a fact, that Shakespeare — the most profound judge of the worM, humanity and the springs of human conduct that has perhaps ever lived — has gibbeted the usurer and usury to the execration of the world for all time? Shtlock — I perceive you know and understand a little of the sub- lime mysteries of our craft. You may scorn usury and our beloved Hard- Money system of finance even as Shakespeare did ; but what will you introduce or substitute in its place 1 Worker — Allow me, sir ; there will be ample time to answer that question, but at present I am concerned about giving a few more facts to sustain my positions ; I want to let in more light. Is it not a fact, that usury and the Hard-Money system have at the present hour got possession, through mortgages, of most of the farms, mills, factories, water-falls, lumber and houses, including vast property in cities, towns, villages and hamlets of this Canada that we so fondly called ours 1 Yes ; not only Canada, but does not this astounding fact apply also to the United States — to the Continent ; Usury is King — the keystone of the arch of modem civilization — glorious civilization ! Shylock — Your array of facts are indisputable so far ; it may, there- fore, be as well to pass on to the elucidation of the further branches of the subject. Worker — Very well. I will now give some quotations on the merits, or demerits, of usury from the Sacred Book : '* If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury." (Exodus, chap, xxii., v. 25.) " And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him : Yea though he be a stranger, or a sojourner, that he may live with thee. Take thou no usury of him, or increase : but fear thy God ; that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him victuals for increase." (Leviticus xxv. chap., v. 35, 3b, 37.)\ " Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother ; usury of money, ^ usury of victuals, usury of anything that is lent upon usury." (Deut. ^ KSP 26 xxiii. chap., v. 19.) "And there was a great cry of the people, and of their wires, against their brethren the Jews. For there were that said. We, our sons and our daughters, are many ; therefore we take up corn for them that we may eat and live. Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. There were also that said. We have borrowed money for the kings tribute (taxes), and that upon our lands and vine- yards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their childien ; and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought into bondage already ; neither is it in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards. And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them." (Nehemiah, ohap. v., V. 1 to 7 inclusive.) " He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved." (Psalms, chap, xv., v. 4.) " In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood ; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast for- gotten me, saith the Lord God." (Ezek., chap, xxii., v. 12.) Shylock — We will drop the subject at present, but I would like to hear your views upon the system of finance you would introduce ta supersede the present one. Worker — I will give you a short sketch of them when next we meet. 1 t I I I No. III. Shylock — I am happy to meet you again, Mr. Worker, to hear your definitions regarding the financial problems that are so deeply stirring the public mind, and which, in my opinion, will only gather strength until it becomes the question of the day. There is much in what you said before on this subject that would be hard to refute ; in fact, I believe positively irrefutable. I wait now to hear your propositions, and how you would finally adjust and dispose of these most important matters. WoBUiR — Your opinion that ih« financial question is bound to become the que&lion of the times will turn out te be correct ; like Aaron's j^y it will swallow np ell the rest. It is the grseter question, end the gzeater includes the less. Before I lej down the plenks of the fiaeBcial HHan 1 I f I I platform, which I believe the people will adopt and ere lonf; stand upon, I wish to throw, out a few skirmishing observations to clear the way. First then, the leading idea that presents itself is this : that th« phase of civilization upon which the world has entered, and is now travelling; upon, is the industrial. The age that we are now leaving immediately behind us was the age of war and conquest, when might prevailed, when the strong, crafty and skilled leader led his armed host to conquest. Then the conqueror appropriated everything that belonged to the conquered. The leading idea of that state of civilization was that might was right. Thank God, the world has travelled a long way beyond that phase of civi- lization ; although Froude, one of England's historians, hankers after it, sees beauties in it, and defends it vigorously. And within the citadel of Eng- lish power this idea still rules, else there never could be such wars now- a-days as Zulu and Atfghan Wars — wars perfectly indefensible on any other grounds than the doctrine that might makes right. There is not another civilized power ; yea, there is not perhaps a barbarous power, that in the present day, would project and carry into execution such wars, except England. Russia, that we affect to look down upon as serai-bar- barous, only unsheathed the sword at the despairing cry of murdered humanity, that lay massacred and bleeding beneath the hands and feet of the brutal Turk. Theie exists to-day a fellow-feeling between the Sultan, the pashas and the bashaws of Turkey and the aristocratic rulers and landocracy of England, on the anti-Christian and anti-human doctrine that might makes right. Rob Roy and Robin Hood, on a small scale, personified this doctrine ; but it was the grim monster, whom they dig" nify in history by the name of " William the Conqueror," that erected the barbarous dogma into the superstructure, which took the form or the phase of the civilization which is now happily leaving the world'vS stage for ever ; and in its stead there is arising in grand proportions the indus- trial. The industrial means an end to all wars — a stop to all human blood- shedding. It is carrying out God's behest, that in the sweat of man's brow he shall earn his bread. The former meant the strongest first, and thence gave rise to Aristocracy, which system is inimical to the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter is Democratic. Industrialism — the*present phase of civilization as opposed to the former — is only in its infancy. The first serious fall it gate its old foe in Europe was the revolution in France, beginning 1789. This glorious •ontinent of America was worn for labor «nd the righte 90 Man — under God — by our rerolutioiiaiy fblhers. 28 ^ The condition of things, made good on this oonfinenl;, is slowly bat surely undermining the despotism, the dynasties, the oligarchies, the ftristocracics, and the junkerisms of the old world. Their overthrow is assured. Babylon is falling — &lling to rise no more. Industrialism, hitherto, has never had fair play — nothing like it. It has been bestridden and weighted down with the ideas and dogmas and regulations arising out of the former state of things. One of the first of these was that labour in itself was dishonourable. To be a worker was to be a menial, a slave, a serf, an industrial helot; and the remains of this barbarous idea still lingers in the world. Another was usury for the use of money — a crafty mode of appropriating the results of man's labour. Another was delegating to a few the power to issue money and to exact tribute from the people for such issue of the people's money. From these and a host of other malignant burthens labour, or indus- try, is now groaning, and is seeking to be relieved, Labou: is asking nothing but justice^ and nothing less will satisfy her. The old doctrine that might made right is exploded. Don't invest in it ; it is bankrupt. We may add, also, that labour does not want any soothing-syrup, such as gifts and alms, soup-kitchen and poor-house quarters, et Koe genius omne, doled out by the rich and would-be-thought benevolent. Oh no ; away with them ! Labour only asks her own, what she has toiled for ; but she must have it mimts Shylock's usury, and every other crafty condition that takes a slice out of her earnings. Industrialism wants nothing but her own ; and that is justice — the equal balance. Shylook — Why, thou almost persuadest me to be a Christian. Worker— Industrialism, freed from her shackles, would introduce some sunshine into the hearts of men. At present greed grows upon what it is fed upon. The present condition of labour is such that it tends to destroy within the heart of man the last remnants of humanity. Look at those monomaniacs they call millionaires. In their greed of more millions they attempt to buy up all the wheat on this continent. If they could get it all within their clucches they could create an artificial famine ; and it would never cost their devil-besotted brains one thought if millions of mankind should fall victims to their hellish avarice. Another crazy lunatic of the millionaire type wants a monopoly of all the railroads on this continent ; and if he could only effect his purpose he would 'stop all the volume of trade and travd of the continent until his imperious demands were com- plied with. Watch mankitad at this devil-take-the-hind-most race, hovr they Will lie, ch%at, defraud, eactort, adulterate articles of food and drink, poison, burglarise, and even murder, to satisfy their insatiable gteed ol f 29 gold. The scoundrel that is most deft and successful ia patted on the bauk, if he only comes out first in the race and keeiMs out of jail ; he is the smart man, the white-headed boy. Those who either will not enter upon the race, or who do, and come out hindmost, are subjected to noth- ing but taunts, jeers and scoflfs. Does any, or could any Christianity exist in such an atmospliere 1 Then again it is out of this chaos that our period- ical panics, and crises, and long-protracted depression arise, leading to want of employment, deaths from starvation, crimes, suicides and murders. And yet the press and the pulpit and the rostrum are either mute or they stand by privilege on the old order and conditions of a former civilization. They are dumbfounded, non-plussed, and can see no way out of the wood. Shylock — Your portrayal of the present state of industrial civiliza- tion makes nie tremble all over. It is shocking, and the worst of it is, that it is too true ; but I am waiting for your remedy, Mr. Worker. Novr for your panacea, your platftjrm of principles, to be legislated upon. The time, yea, the set time, I am convinced, has come for legislation to step in and unravel and straighten up the tangled web of the iadustridi system. Worker — Much as I am anxious to do so, I find that time and space forbid me to go farther at present. At our next meeting the new indus- trial platform will be erected. No. IV. Shylock — Although, Mr. Worker, we differ in our opinions on the questions we have been discussing, I am glad to admit that I res[)ect your independence of thought. In these days of so much hedging and dodg- ing, it is always refreshing to meet people that have the courage of their convictions. Worker — I am happy to hear you say that much. Mammon-wor- ship too often seals up the tongue and pen of thinkers, lest they might give utterance to thoughts, sentiments or principles that would array against them the potent influence of the plutocracy — the money lords — and thus bar the way to their worldly prosperity and social advancement. This conduct is called worldly wisdom ; but I tiiink it is more nearly alliea to mercenary posing and mental cowardice. Right here 1 wish to give thanks to the IHsJi Canadian for the moral courage and courtesy displayed in opening its columns to give voice to our thoughts on these very important questions ; as I can tell you that the partisan press proper would not allow their columns to be occupied with a tlisscussioji such as ours. With them it is party first — the country and welfare of the people afterwards. so I ) Shtlook — Your allegations on these points are quite true ; but it is altogether attributable to the inherent selfishness of human nature. Worker — Yes ; and therefore it is all the more necessary for workers to institute the proper legislative guards against rampant rapacity, so that justice may not suffer. Bums, one of nature's poets, said : " Man's inhumanity to man, Makes countless thousands mourn." Humanity is made to mourn by nothing so much as the selfish greed and making haste to be rich — inordinately rich — propensities that have taken possession of the " society " of the present age. It must be curbed, held in check, and kept within due bounds by legislation, or it will end in complete slavery for the masses, and practical heathenism. Indeed, the social life of the people is rapidly tending to that deplorable consumma- tion. I will now proceed to notice two points that must be made clear and prominent. The first is that, according to indisputable statistics from the best informed sources, it has been clearly ascertair; ?d that the uiost indus- trious nations can only make progress in their national wealth, from every source of labour and production, at the rate of about two and a half per cent, per annum. That in the best of times, the annual addition to the wealth of the most advanced nations will not exceed three per cent. In other words, that the capital or value added to nations annually is about two and a half or three per cent. This being so, how long will it be until the cai)italists, or moneyed class, who demand usury at the rate of 8, 10, 12 and even 24 per cent, for the use of their money, have the entire property of the nation in their possession, iu their clutches, and all the rest of God's children disinherited] Why, a school boy may reckon it up ;" and this is precisely the process that is going on every hour, whether we are sleeping or waking. Tlie usurer, like a vampire, calmly looks on at his table of decimal fractions, and can anticipate with certainty when he will gobble up your house, your farm, your factory, or whatever else V(.> I •' ': lively thought was yours. At least, whatever portion was right- ? ill At>a'v^ iiaving been won by jour labour and industry, will soon be j a '•.s no lonj>er. ic vl-, ^Hcond place. I want to show tlui falsity of mammon-wor- shippers, when they assert that our long, protracted, dreary hard times have been caused by over-production. This assertion is a cunning, brazen, consummate lie. Our lon^r, protracted dtpression proves the lie. The very reverse is the cause, namely, under-consumption. We have succes- sive years of hard times because the fifty or sixty millions of the working • t 31 people of the United States and Canada have had no means to purchase the goods of every kind they have been and are so sadly in need of. If the masses of the people had the money to supply their wants, the ware- houses and the stores of all America would be emptied to morrow, and their contents would be found to fall inliuitely short of the quantity wanted. Over-production, as a cau^e of our five or six years' misery and depression, is exploded. As the vulgar slang has it, it is too thin. There never was such a thing in the world as over-production — never, since Noah built the ark to this day. Had justice ruled on this planet, the consujiiption would at all times have equalled the production, if it did not run ahead of it. (3ur money-grabbers, the whole tribe of Sliylocks and profit-mongers, know these things well ; hence they manufacture false cries and throw dust in the people's eyes to blind them to the enormity of the false civili- zation that now dominates — a vicious system of industrial and social economy. We have year after year of bad times, because usury and false legisla- tion in a huudred other ways have thrown burdens upon workers that they are unable to bear, and have caused money to systematically flow into the hands of a few, such as bank rings, railroad rings, land rings, insurance rings, building society rings, ami the whole accursed brood of monopolists and Shy locks. I will now proceed to lay down a platform of principles that, if adopted by the people, and legrslatiid into active operation in tiie body social and politic, would mend things in favor of humanity : First : Stop all accumulation of National debt ; not another cent to be borrowed from the London Jews and money-lenders. The burden heaped upon us already is heavy enough in all conscience. We mean to be free men in this Dominion, and will never allow the products of our own labour, and the labour of our posterity, to be annually gathered up and shipped away to a foreign country, to sati-fy the demands of usurers. Second : Create our own money; an 1 for us Canadians it will be the best money in the world. It will be based on the property of the Nation. The lands, forests, mines, fisheries, inland and ocean, water-falls, ships, buildings, railways, &c., &c., of the Dominion of Canada are worth $10,000,000,000. Third : Oh this basis let us issue, by our Federal Government, $200,- 000,000 Canadian Greenbacks, which will be held as legal and lawful tender for all debts, both private and governmental, and for all purchases of goods and products of every kind. / 32 Fourth : This will give us a money circulation from Halifax to Yan- oouyer of $50 per capita in additiop, and will help to do away with the money famine from which we have been and are suffering. Fi;fth : This money of the people (not Shylook's money) to be issued to the people through our National Treasury without interest, except to pay Government expense of issue, say 1^ or 2 per cent. Offices of issue to be located in all centres of population for the benefit of the whole people. Sixth : Satisfactory security to be given for all advances. Seventh : The power given to private Joint Stock Banks of issuing their promises to* pay to be stopped. No money to be issued except the National (rreenbacks — which are not promises to pay, but every dollar of them sovereign money of the whole people, and backed by the entire property of the Nation. Then we will never be afraid of Bank smashes, of losing our money by cunning manipulators and grabbing thieves. Except taking away from the present banks their present monopoly of issuing all the paper money in circulation (except the Dominion notes), I would not further interfere with them ; but the power they now have, should rest iji the Government only. The present system is false, and goes to build up a rich moneyocracy, which is incompatible with free- dom on the free soil of America. We want no ocracies in America but workocracy ; workers first, protected by legislation based upon the eternal principles of justice and freedom. Eighth : If $200,000,000 is found to be insufficient for the business wants of Canada, then let further issues be made until every wheel of industry is fairly in motion and the resources of the Nation in a fair way of development. With the people's non-interest bearing money in circula- tion, and our present tariff of protection to native industries in force, we will in a short time bid farewell to hard times, want of work, poverty, and money-famine. THE LAND QUESTION. Until recently the love of freedom — the consciousness that anything belonged to him but the labour of his body — did not inspire the agri- cultural labourers of England. The lord duke, or puke, qlaimed the land, and the farmer paid him tribute for it. The labourer never had his thought lifted above his average two dollars a week, and lived and laboured and died — used as a mere human machine. He had not to- / S3 plan ; he had to act. He had not to think ; he had to 8a£fer. In hint the god-like qualities of his nature were not stunted ; they were withered in the germ. Now, with the holder of the land, however small in area, th» worker of it on his own resource, the case was exactly reversed. He did not receive any pay at the end of the week. When his oat,8 were shorn, or his potatoes dug, he looked over the field with a critical eye. Experi- ence had taugh him something of its capabilities — what it could and what it could not produce. That hollow to be drained, and the subsoil scalr tered over the surface. Limestone is within reach. The summer has been dry, and the turf is plentiful. The neighbours in the townland have joined and built a small lime-kiln. He has his part in it ; and twa or three kilns of lime will make a fertilizing mixture with the low moss.. To be sure, the land blasphemer stands guard over both the limestone and the moss ; and the very fact that he does so leads our friend of the frieze jacket to think I He is further prompted to thought when the blasphemer comes ill the fall, and exclaims : " What a crop you have ! What fine land this is ! It is worth a great deal more rent than you are paying for it ! " So the valuator is sent around, the rent raised, and the industrious man throws down his spade in despair, and grasps his hid away rifle in vengeance. And all this has kept thought from stagnating in Ireland, and now, at last, it is up and crying out very strongly and very sensibly, " The land-thief must go ! " IRELAND WANTS JUSTICE, NOT ALMS. That in Ireland there is distress of the direst kind, no one denies^ The English Government acknowledge it ; the Irish landlords confess it. From no quarter comes a denial that the gaunt form of famine is again casting its shadow over a land that has already so often suffered from this- terrible visitor. Ireland to-day presents to the world the anomaly of a country threa\ened with famine, whilst there is within its borders enough, and. more than enough, tu feed its inhabitants. During the year just closed the Irish people, by their labour, have won from the soil a sufficiency to amply support them, if they were not prevented by the workings of the Landlord System from reaping the fruits of their toil. The realized results of the labour of the Irish farmers are in Ireland ', but landlordism, like one of the evil spirits that of old were supposed to* stand guardians over hidden treasures, keep watch and ward over the 3 ill t - 34 potatoes, th9 com, the butter and the cattle that the starving Irish have raised, and tell these starving men: "You may die, but you must not touch this food, every bit of which belongs to the non-producing land- lords." That to-day is the situation in Ireland. It was the same in 1847, in 1822, in 1750, in 1722, and still further back; and it will be the same for all time to come if landlordism, which is at the bottom of all this suffering, be allowed to remain undisturbed. The question then for Ireland to settle is, not altogether how to deal with the lamine that is now threatening her, but how to reiuove the cause of this and every other famine that she lias «uffored from. Mr. Parnbll and his associates profess to have solved the problem of hew to prevent these ever recurring Irish famines. They tell us that landlordism is the caut>e of them, and they propose a plan by which the term landlord will, in a few years, be as obsolete in Ireland as slave- holder is to-day in the southern States. To unfold this plan to the American public is the mission that Mr. Parnell has undertaken to perform. The New York Herald, and one or two other capitalistic papers, have raised against him the cry that if he had the real interest of the Irish people at heart, he would cease to agitate the Land Question and devote himself to the task of collecting alms for his starving countrymen ; that is, they want him to refrain from making any efiFort to remove the cause of Ireland's misery, and confine himself to the attempt of alleviating the symptoms of the misery. Suppose Mr. Parnell should take the advice of the Herald, and further suppose that the purses of Americans having been liberally opened in response to appeals for assistance, he obtains in the United States the large sum necessary to stave oif famine in Ireland, what theni Are the people of America always to be taxed whenever the robberies of the Irish landlords bring the Irish farmer to the verge of famine ? What assurance have we that next year the same demand will not be made on American sympathy ? If landlordism is to continue, the recurrence in a few years of the necessity of helping to keep the Irish from starvation can be predicted with as much certainty as the astronomer can foretell the appearance of a cornet. Irish famines are the effect. Irish landlordism is the cause. Con- tinue the latter and you are sure to have the former. But no, says the New York Herald, let landlordism lemain iintoitched. Let the Americans lavish their alms on the starving Irish, 35 but don't let them lift one finger to assist them in getting rid of the cause that prevents starving people from living on the products of their toil. Free land lies at the foundation of the new civilization that is coming. On the 16th of last December I contributed the following letter to the colums of the Toronto Mail. My object was to help to create public opinion in this section, favourable to a proper settlement of this burning question : — To the Editor of the Mail. Sir, — As your great organ of public opinion is the only one we have in Toronto that would open its columns to give expression to independent thought upon the land question, or on any other question that affects the welfare of humanity, I request that you will give me space to express a few thoughts on the land question that is now up for discussion in the British Isles, but is particularly agitating the minds of ray fellow-country- men in Ireland. The question, then, is this — Is the present land system that obtains in Ireland, England and Scotland, founded upon just and equitable principles ? Is it free from oppression ? Does it tend to bring forth from the soil the greatest amount of produce or food for the benefit of all ? Is it a land system that confers upon the thirty-three millions of people inhabiting Great Britain and Ireland the greatest amount of hap- piness and contentment that the land of these countries is capable of yielding? I nave no hesitation in affirming that each of these questions must be answered in the negative. Nine-tenths of the landlords them- selves would answer these questions in the negative. Recollect it is the system I am speaking of, not the men. The landlords are just like other men ; some of them are generous, some the reverse. In general terms, it may be said that some of them are good, and others bad. What I say is, that the land system of the British Isles confers upon landlords powers, privileges and immunities that no man should possess, and the possession of which is antagonistic if not destructive pf the progress, happiness and peace of the whole people. Is this so, or is it not? If this land system is iniquitous, and works oppressively upon humanity, then it must be changed. It will not do to cry " Communist," " infidel" and *' mad dog," at those who demand this change. It will not do to say that this land system is an ancient one, and that to upturn it would involve a social revolution. The system of human slavery was an ancient system and the world is not yet quite relieved of its hateful presence. The landlord system is only another phi^ of human slavery, and is possessed of most of its objectionable features. Our greatest thinkers and writers, Spencer, Mill, and a host of others, have thoroughly examined this land system. I it 36 and their conclueion is, that it is wholly indefensible, and that it is ruinous to the rights, liberty and happiness of mankind wherever it exists. When the architect of the universe had finished his work, we are told " that God saw everything that He had made and, behold, it was very good." This beautiful planet, light, air, laud and water was made for the use and benefit of all his creatures that he made to live upon it. All these elemeiits of nature are absolutely necessary for the subsistence of man upon this plan tt, and they are in superabundance for the use and happi- ness of all. To say 'that famines come by the hand of God, we think is nothing short of blasphemy. Famines will occur where land monopoly exists, aggravated as it is by the conditions and accompanying circum- stances that obtain in Ireland. Light and air are too subtle elements to be successfully monopolized, else, we have no doubt, they would be ma- nipulated without compunction by greedy speculators, who make it a study to circumvent and appropriate the rights and labour of mankind. The only attempt that I know of whereby the light of heaven was to be shut oti' from the use of the people was, when a window tax was decreed by the British Government. Many to avuid the barbarous impost built up their windows and retired into midnight darkness. I have also read of an English lady who made a visit to Dublin, and when there called upon L)ean iSwift. In the course of conversation she dilated upon the healthy climate and balmy air ol Ireland. The Dean interrupted her, and said, " for God sake, madam, do not say that when you go home to England." " Why not?" said she. " Because if you do," said the Dean, " they'll tax it." A land system that allows a few men to fence about large tracts of land and proclaim that they are the owners thereof, from the bowels of the earth to the sky, and the very seaweed thrown on the beach by the ocean waves, is a sy»tem of feudalism that ill consorts with the spirit and pro- gress of an age, whtn men can catch the lightning in their hand and control its mighty forces for the use of mankind. Eight hundred years ago the ^'ormans, by the sword, laid the foun- dation of this land system ; but is that any reason why it should remain in force to day 1 The landlords themselves admit that they have no other right or title to these lands than that of conquest, and the laws they themselves have made. They do not pretend to argue their case on the grounds of right and justice. Well, then, is the indisputable rights of man to the enjoyment of his own labour to be lor ever denied, because of this conquest by the sword eight centuries ago 1 I think not. I believe, this feudahstic land system has been obtruded as far into this age as it will be permitted by public opinion. This question affects the well-being, physi- f 87 ^ially, and morally, of the whole people ; the labourer, the artisan, the miner, the shopkeeper, the manufacturer, and the farmer, every one and everything, even the legitimate rights of the landlord himself, and it will not down until it is settled upon just and economical principles. I may be told that its settlement involves great difficulties. Well, fo did the settlement of human slavery. The puny efforts of the London Times and the New York Herald, to sneer it down, will not avail. The cry, " the land for the people," has gone forth, and it echoes and re-echoes in Ireland, from the Giant's Causeway to Cape Clear, and from the Hill of Howtb to Bantry Bay. It is caught up by the people of England and Scotland, and sent reverberating through the British Isles. The Irish people pre a unit upon it, as well they may, for to them it is a life or death question ; they seek no insurrection, but liberty to live upon and cultivate the soil for their own benefit. gTheir struggle is not only for themselves, but a struggle for humanity everywhere ; and they have the whole-souled ^sympathy of the Canadian people, as of the people of Europe aud the United States of America — of all America. Yours, &c., J. McCORMICK. Toronto, 15th Dec. LANDLORDISM IN IRELAND MUST GO. ] ARREST OP DAVITT, KILLEN AND DALT THE FAMINE IN '47 AND THE EXO- DUS — THEIR CONSEQUENCES IN IRELAND AND AMERICA. "One thing we have made up our minds to here, and that is, there will never be another exodus, never another famine. " — Pamell interviewed in Ireland by a New York " Herald " reporter. The Almighty God permitted one famine in Ireland, and one exodus therefrom. Will he ever permit another ? We think not. The blood of the martyrs has in aU the ages been the seed of the Church. In like manner, the blood of the immortal martyrs of Ireland (one million) which was shed in 1847 may have been the seed of the political freedom, of not only Ireland herself, but of ail the other helots of the world. The exodus had the effect of consolidating Republican power on this Continent, of maintaining the Union, and of bursting the shackles from the limbs of four millions of slaves. In the war for the maintenance \ i :•'■ 88 of the Union of the United States of America, the English aristocracy aaw a grand opportunity of splitting into fragments that great confederacy of freemen, and thereby dissolving, as they thought forever, their wonder- ful and growing power. This was the desirable consummation the oli- gai'chs wished for. The exodus, However, made it impossible for them to achieve what they desired and worked for. The aristocrats threw themselves into the scale with the slave owners (why should they not, brothers all?) to perpetuate and extend slavery, ftnd also to sever the Union — good and holy objects in their eyes. To defeat their aims was the highest aspiration of the expatriated sons of Ireland ; and to assure their defeat on American soil they freely shed their blood on many a hard-fought held. Tliis was the meaning of the green flag, ever in the front, in the post of greatest danger and greatest glory. This war was the turning point for either ultimate slavery or free- dom for both hemispheres. If the Union and freedom won, then slavery ci every hue was ultimately and forever doomed. Wbo will say that but for the exodus, and for the forces it vehemently threw into the scale for freedom, the slave owners of the South, combined with their brothers t.he oligarchy of England, might not have been victorious? If they had come out of this contest victorious, then the consequeiices to freedom in both the Old and New World, would have been incalculable. Previous to this momentous contest there was always within the Un'^n a strong antagonistic feeling against the aristocracy of England. This feeling animased the minds of the vast majority, indeed, one might say of the whole population. It came down to them since the revolution as an heir-loom, by tradition, education and the genius of their institu- tions. But the exodus intensified this feeling a thousandfold. In the case of the uld element the antagonism may have been only in their heads ; but in the case of the new, the antagonism was not only in their heads but in the very depths of their hearts. If one of the chief factors that stirs the heart of the Mussulman be hatred of the infidel, there is no mis- take that one of the chief factors in the hearts of the expatriated sons of Ireland is hatred of the landlords of Ireland, and their brothers the aris- tocracy of England. The Anglo-Saxon glorification that sometimes found expression on American platforms will not now be listened to. The exodus killed it as dead as a door nail. The exodus then consolidated Bepublidan power oh this continent, and concentrated and intensified an almost religious hatred of British power, wherever the Star Spangled Banner waves over this glorious and mighty Coi^tiuent. T '■ i I i 39 How different would things have been in America, aye, and in Europe too, if the slaveholders had won. Why, England's aristocracy would have had another Slave Empire on this Western hemisphere, as she already had one in the East ; and the Western one \. )uld have speedily obliterated all the land marks of freedom on this continent. Then indeed the black man and the white man would both alike have become inevitably the chattels of human slavery to their inhuman and blasphemous taskmasters. The exodus not only solidified and wonderfully multiplied the politi- cal power of the Republic, but it brought about an extraordinary expan- sion of the illimitable agricultural and other resources of this Continent. And here is just where the oligarchy of England is beginning to feel the shoe pinching them. This agricultural expan>»ion of America i? only in its infancy ; but what an alarming giant does it appwar already to John Bull's gazel It will go on, however, until it will show the territorial lords of Ireland, England and Scotland that their lands are valuable^ worth nothing to any one but the families who till the soil — because rents will be an impossibility. The agricultural expansion of Americi will abolish landlordism forever, and emancipate the tenant serfs and rent tribute-payers from the leave to dig and toil, from a bondage worse than Egyptian. The Omnipotent God brought the children of Israel up from Egypt to the promised land. The toilers of Great Britain and Ireland will bo also delivered. Their promised land is not far off. Ever-glorious Amer- ica ! in thy history we can divine why God raised up a Washington^ peopled the land with determined lovers of freedom and determind haters of tyranny ; and how among these settlers there should have boen such a strong Irish element. We can divine how the struggle for freedom closed in triumph for liberty against such gigantic odds, and how the eagle clutched in his talons the shriveled form of tyranny, and flung his hated carcass from off this Continent for ever. We can divine, also, why martyred Ireland should have been selected by the Infinite — by means of the exodus — to maintain liberty and crush slavery in America ; and after- wards, in its far-reaching power, to make it possible for sons of the exodus to emancipate their brethren in Ireland. Ireland is again in the throes of ano*:hor crisis ; but " there never will be another famine, never another exodus." The power of the blas- phemous usurpers whose presence there makes the conditions such that ilEimines are at all possible, will soon be broken. Their weakness is dis- closed to i^s in the arrests of Davitt, Killen and Daly. These men spoke not a yrofd of sedition, not a word outside the' lines of the English Coin as ^r ( , ! ill, 40 «titution. But Ireland is under no Constitution ; the landlord's arbitrary will and cowardly caprice is the only Constitution that Irishmen know of in Ireland. A famine is staring the people in the face — death by hunger, the cruel destroyer, is creeping upon them ; and Farnell, Davitt, Killen, Daly and hosts of others are trying to direct the people what best to do to avert it. Like genuine men, as they are, they tell the people to look to their own lives and the lives of their families first ; to place them before the landlords' rent. Is this not right ? Will this not square with all laws human and divine ? " No," says the landlord ; " what signify your lives to me 1 My rent I must have, dead or alive." These arrests are only a repetition of their old tactics. If the Irish- man will not be a silent, willing and submissive slave, they will soon find means to make him feel and know that he must be so. He must even die the cruel death of hunger, and make no effort to save his life ; but pay his rent first ; and if he dies of hunger afterwards, it will be a good rid- dance, in the eyes of the landlord. In the estimation of the landlords, Davitt, Killen, Daly, Pamell and others had started what to them was a mischievous and dangerous agitation ; and it must be nipped in the bud by casting them into prison. To these landlords famine is nothing, life is nothing, death is nothing ; but their rents is everything. This landlord system is an inhuman system ; it shrivels them up, heart and soul, into a dry rot, and to their tenant serfs they become inhuman monsters and in- carnate demons. By their decrees they have the people totally disarmed, and therefore powerless ; they know this, and they think it is safe to be both insolent and cowardly by arresting and throwing those men into dungeons. But they may discover before long their error, and feel that their programme is not a safe one. This rent question is a question of life and death to a whole nation ; yes, three nations. It will not down. The landlords themselves, if they were not blind and infatuated, might easily see that the dungeon for these men will in no wise help landlordism, but only bring nearer the final solution, which will be — must be — that the landlord and rent paying itygtem must go. When the people of Ireland were famishing, perishing with hunger in tens of thousands in '47, there was at the very same moment being shipped out of Ireland more cattle, sheep, pork and grain than would have fed the whole people three times over. Good God ! And why were not the people fed with this food, and saved alive) Why ? Because, first, thtt landlord must have his rent. The landlord government issued their ukase that the channels of trade must flow on, in the usual way — wMsh meant T 1 g^M MUA M eiULU l i lU BPi" 41 1 that while a whole people were perishing with hunger the usual process must go on, of shipping the produce of the country over to England, that the cash might he raised to pay the landlord's rent. So Irishman can think over these things with calmness. While I am writing this, alas, too true statement, my blood seethes throagh my veins in a boiling flood of wrath and indignation. One would think that men calling themselves Christians, enlightened and college-bred gen- tlemen, who had the lives of these poor people in their hands, would have stepped to the front and said : Seeing that some mysterious blight has totally destroyed the potatoes, your usual food, we will forego our demand for this year's rent ; and that you may be saved alive from starvation, you may keep and eat the cattle, sheep, pork and grain that in ordinary years were shipped to England to pay our rent. Did they do that! No ; they clutched their rent, and let the people perish. We have no parallel to this episode in all history since the creation to the present hour. There will not be another famine because the Irish people them- selves have made up their minds never to allow a repetition of 1847 ; and also because we believe the rest of the world would not permit another such catastrophe to take place. Byron describes the ocean as being boundless, fathomless, alone ; and in these same words we might fitly de- scribe the greed and inhumanity of Irish landlordism. The Government of England, which is a government of and for land- lords and plutocrats, have always shown a greed for land and gold that has ever been inexplicable to the rest of the world. Watch, for instance her latest contortions in swallowing Zululand. Next she will pass round and swallow the Transvaal, Boers and all. Then she will have pretty much all of South Africa ; and bye and bye she will absorb the whole African Continent — for this is settled upon. It is amazing the way she goes on conquering the barbarous tribes of earth with Gatling guns and cannon balls ; and she calls it " civilizing " them. Watch her, again, astride what is called the roof or ridge of the world in the Hindoo Koosh. Beaconsfield says he has discovered a " scientific frontier " away up there. It is a dangerous place, however. Once before they got astride there, and they fell through the rifts and passes in this roof ; and " what a fall was there)" An army of many thousands, horse, foot and artillery, well appointed and wanting for nothing, fell there ; and but one — only one — man escaped to tell the tale. They do not emblazon this tale very much in their school histories ; and even their penny-a-liners do not ventilate it^ Alexander wept because he had not other worlds to conquer. Wen it possible for the oligarchy of England to scoop up this whole planet— siy£BSZj:si 42 Ik iili land, gold, everything — we are confident that to the inhuman monsters- who caused the massacre of one million of people, made victims by their landlord system in Ireland, it ^ould by no *means satiate their omnivorous greed. No ; they would gnash their teeth because they could not annex Jupiter, or Saturn with her seven rings. The New York Irish World wants to take Ireland off the begging list once for all, and every right thinking; man will agree that in this they are right. Here are its views on the lahd question ; they are not only pointed and well put, but gu to the foundation, aad plao es it where it, ought to be, and where it will yet be. THE LAND THIBF's CLAIM. Tiller of the Soil — *' Your land ? I deny it is your land. Did your omnipotence create it ? Has your labor cultivated it ? Land Thibf — " Ha ! I see you have been listening to those Com- munists and Agitators ; but — " Tiller op the Soil — *' Never mind the Communists and the Agitators ; I've begun to do a little thinking on my own account now. When and how, I ask, did this become your land 1" Land Thief — " Why, my great-great-great, big, big grandfather got it from Cromwell." Tiller op the Soil — " And who gave it to Cromwell V Land Thief — " He conquered it. — He got it by the sword." Tiller of thk Soil — " Is that his only title 1" Land Thief — " Why what better title could you ask V* Tiller op the Soil — " His title, to be worth anything, must come from God !" Land Thief—" Ha ! ha ! ha ! From God, eh 1 ha ! ha ! ha ! Why, my dear fellow, we have long since learned to do business in this world without God." Tiller of the Soil — " I know we have, and I think it's about time we returned to His law." Land Thief-t-" You are talking to me in a language I don't under- stand. I strongly suspect — in fact I know now — ^you must be a Com- munist. But I am losing time. Pay me rent for my land, or out you gor „ , . ^„,,,... . . ■ , . . , Tilled of 'THB {^il— "^I tj^llyoji I don't recpgqize tfhis jjo be your laofi I look upon ipyself as a child of the Heavenly Father. I believe I 9X0. 9ntitle4 to my share in His gr^nd estate ; and, until you cf^n show 43 me a decree from Him disinheriting me, I shall not recognize your right to take tribute from me for allowing me to work for my living, or to Qvict me for refusing to pay you that tribute.'" n SOCIALISM OR SOCIOLOGY. ' ' Man is man and who is more ?" To get further insight into the conditious of labor, and to show what the apostles and disciples of labor reform are struggling for, or the plat- form of principles that they are taking their stand upon and are fully determined to have crystallized into law by legislation in Congress, I can- not do better tl^an subjoin the following : — SOCIALISTIC LABOR CONVENTION. TBZT OP THB PLATFORM OP PRINOIPLBS ADOPTED AT THE RBOEKT SESSION. The International Conference of the Socialistic-Labor Party of the United States at Alleghany, Pa., finally adjourned at midnight, Jan. 2, after first re-electing Philip Van Patten, of Cincinnati, Secretary for the ensuing two years; fixing Detroit as the seat of the National Executive Committee, and Chicago as the seat of the Board of Supervision ; and adopting the following platform of principles: — THE PLATPORM. We hereby declare that labor, being the creator of all wealth, through and by it alone organized society and civilization is possible. It right- fully follows that those who labor and create all wealth are the most im- portant part of society, and hence should enjoy the full results of their toil; and we Declare that a just and equitable distribution of the fruits of labor is utterly impossible under the present system of sqciety. This fact is abunduitly illustrated by the deplorable condition of the working classes, who are in a state of destitution and degrading dependence in the midst of their own productions. While the hardest and most diss,greeabl9 work brings to the worker only the bare necessaries of lif^,, others who labor not at all, riot in la);>pr's production apd everything th|it wealth can pur- chase ; and we I' it I ! 44 Declare that the present industrial system of competitions intensifies this inequality by concentrating into the hands of a few aU means of pnr duction, distribution and the results of labor, thus creating gigantio monopolies dangerous to the people's liberties ; and we further Declare that these monster monopolies and these extremes of rich and poor are the natural outgrowths of the industrial system supported by class legislation, and are subversive of all democracy, injurious to the National interests and destructive of all truth and morality. As this state of affairs is against the yty). aIl^^ elfare of the people, and is continued and upheld by the ruling political parties, and as the emancipation of the working classes must be achieved by the working classes themselves, it now be- comes their duty to unite as a powerful Labor party to free themselves from all forms of tyr?rjTri:i^ lion of Labor is international and naturally co-operative and mutual. Second — We declare that the wages system has become destructive to the highest interests of mankind, and to abolish this system, with a view to establish co-operative production and to secure equitable distribution, we demand that the resources of life, the means of production, public transportation and exchange, become as fast as practicable the public property of the people under administration of the Government. In Older to ameliorate the condition of the working people under the present system, we, the Socialistic-Labor party, present the following platform :— First — Entire revision of the United States Constitution so as to institute direct popular legislation and enable the people to propose or reject any law at their will, and thus secure self-government. Second — The right of suffrage shall in no wise be abridged. Third — Political equality before the law of all citizens without regard to creed, race or sex. Fourth — All conspiracy laws operating against the rights of work- ingmen must be repealed. Fifth — Congress shall provide for the immediate creation of a national bureau of labor statistics. Sixth — We demand the rigid enforcement of the eight-hour law in all national public works. y ' 45 Seventh — All uncultivated lands shall be taxed equally with culti- vated lands in the same locality. Eighth — The Government alone should issue all money, and such right should not be delegated to any banking or private corporation. Ninth — All election days shall be legal holidays. All ballots to be printed by town and city governments. Ballots containing the names of all candidates tor public office to be sent to all voters two days before each election. Tenth — All property, whether religious or secular, to bear its just proportion of taxation. The Socialistic Labor party struggles to carry out the following mea- sures in those States where they are not now law. First — State Bureau of Labor Statistics. Second — Eight hours as a legal working day, and strict punishment of all violators. Third — Abolition of the system of hiring out by contract convict labor in prisons and reformatory institutions. Fourth — Strict laws making employers liable for all accidents result- ing from their negligence, to the injury of their employees. Fifth — Entire legal restriction of the labor of children under fourteen years of age. Sixth — Universal compulsory education ; all schooling material to be furnished at public expense. Seventh — Factory, mine and workshop inspectors, and sanitary supervision of all food and dwellings. Eighth — All wages shall be paid in the Legal tender of the land, and violations of the !aw must be punished. RBSOLUTIONS. First — Resolved, We favor the organization of National and Inter- national Trade and Labor Unions for the protection of workingmen, and advise our members to assist and join them, and that in resisting aggressive Capital we give to Labor, exploited under whatever form, our full sympathy, and, according to our means, our material support. Second — Resolved, All so-called tramp laws punishing unemployed workingmen as tramps are unconstitutional and inhuman, as poverty is thereby made a crime, therefore we demand their repeal. Third — We demand amendment of the Constitution of the United States declaring eight hours as a legal working day in all industrial employments. V "' 46 SPECIAL RESOLUTIONS. Whereas, Twenty-two different railroad corporations have failed to comply with the conditions under which they have received land grants aggregating 124,813,593 acres, comprising an area of territory larger than the States of New York, Pennsvlvania, Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Delaware and Ehode Island ; and "Whereas, Millions of citizens of the United States are struggling for a hare existence, unable to procure homes and a competence, and Whereas, Said railroad land grants would furnish farms of fifty acres to over five millions of our citizens, therefore, be it Resolved, We call upon the representatives of the people in the Congress of the United States to revoke the charters of these railroad corporations and reclaim the land granted under them for the exclusive use, benefit, and occupancy of the people. THE southern QUESTION. Whereas, The so-called Democrats (landlords) of the South have joined hands with the so-called Republicans (capitalists) of the North ; and Whereas, This combination of the wealthy men, both North and South, is made for the sole purpose of destroying the liberties of the common people of both sections of our country ; therefore, be it Resolved, That we urge the working people of the South, regardless of color, to unite with their brothers of the North against the attempts of the ruling class to further impoverish and again enslave them by depriv- ing them of the possession and enjoyment of the fruits of their labor. In the evening the convention assembled in executive session, and at a late hour adjourned finally. t Thus far we have endeavored to give a true picture of the '* Condi- tions of Labor and Modern Civilization." We freely admit that our efforts are far from being exhaustive of the subject, nevertheless, we think that we have struck down to the roots of some of the giant evils that toiling humanity is laboring under. ; To point to the wrongs of labor and the rights of man has been my ohief aim in these pages. If I have succeeded, in any degree, in awaken- ing men to do more thinking and more study on the subjects I have touched upon, then my object has been accomplished. I 47 I consider it ater honor to be an humble contributor to the growing literature of labor than to be poet laureate to an Emperor or an Empress. .. " — - - To cement the brotherhood of man, to help to raise mankind in th^e social scale, and to assist in inaugurating and building up a purer, truer, and a more just and equitable civilization, should be the endeavor of every lover of his species. No one that has eyes to see, or ears to hear, can doubt that there is now going forward all over the world an intense and earnest struggle to found a new civilization, that shall have the conditions within its scope of making men freer, better and happier, as they journey through life on this planet. When the voice went forth after Cain had killed his brother, and demanded from him, — "Cain, where is thy brother Abel V Cain responded gruffly and defiantly and said, ** I know not ; am I ray brother's keeper?" If Cain was well himself he did not care what became of his poor murdered brother. It is much the same to-day. Our present civilization hardens the heart and petrifies the feelings, and man cares not for his brother. It is the same now as when Dives, clothed in purple and fine linen and faring sumptuously every day, could without any compunction see Lazarus luid at his gate and allow the dogs of his kennel to lick his sores. Our modem rich men are of the same stamp as Dives. The same want of human sympathy and callous indif- ference to human wants and woes characterizes them, and the same futurity no doubt awaits them. Their heaven is in this world, and they are no doubt content to take the chances of their fate in the next. We are told that men cannot be made moral, just and good by act of Parliament. However this may be, we do know that legislation can and does make men poor and keeps them poor, and also that legislation can maka the conditions which operate to make men rich and keep them rich. The how and the why and the wherefore of all this every intelli gent person can tell. In the struggle for man's natural rights we have to educate. This work of enlightenment and education must be done by ourselves, and it must be thoroughly done. The evangelism of labor, — the gospel of light, is going forward, the common people are being instructed in labor litera- ture, statistics are being gathered, scientific truth is coming|to their aid, foundation principles are sought for, expediency is discarded, and the scientific doctrines of sociolosry are laid down that teaches man his true 48 it' n I status on this planet as a man. When the common people have com* pletely mastered this practical education then they shall reign. Then the new civilization will have been inaugurated and the human: lace will have entered upon and taken possession of their rightful inheri- tance in this world. We are fully aware that the masses move slowly. Labour is a giant that does not yet know its full strength. Organization, combination, concentration and all the other forces are becoming better understood and are being used. When the original, true and scientific forces are all utilized then the giant, labor, will gather a momentum that will crush all opposing forces as if they were pigmies, as indeed all false, fictitious, rotten and iniquitous systems are. The civilization of the ages stamps its image or likeness upon ihe people ol those respective ages. Our posterity, the succeeding generations, will truly estimate us and take the exact measure of our civilization. We aie inclined to think that if we only knew their expression of that measure that we would not feel at all flattered at the exposition. When our great great grandchildren turn over the fyles of our daily papers we think we hear them exclaim: 'What childish and execrable bosh our fathers were satisfied to have placed before them each morning and evening ! Men that lived and passed through life content to swallow such mental pabulum as that daily, — well, to be sure, — what a vulgar, puerile and depressed civililization it must have been in those days. Another means by which our descendants will estimate us and our doings will be by scanning over our Statute Books. These are mainly the work of our lawyers. They will say in reference to them : What a discordant mass of stuff ! what a conglomeration of illogical crudities ! These books are evidence of the narrow and befogged minds of legislators who were not only ignorant of the science of law-making, based upon the principles of truth and justice, but the language they make use of, and their manner or mode of constructing and construing their ideas, leaves everyone in the dark, and it is questionable if they, after completing their work, under- stood the meaning of it themselves. There are clouds of words, repetitions and contradictions, conjunc- tions and disjunctions, phrases and redundancies, all intermixed and intertwined and overlapping each other. If their whole work was meant for a babel of confusion then they have succeeded beyond a doubt. But it is not so much the manner as the matter of their handiwork, that we of the present have to do. /' a4«&ti!=„-.-™~-.i.«i(|«trt « 49 When God made man, He made the highest and best of all His works. All the other works of creation were to be subservient to man. Our law-makers, following the British plan, reverse this order, man and his rights are held to be secondary, aud laws are framed upon the idea that property must rank first ; thus inanimate matter, gold and houses and lands, are placed before man. The Pharisees and Sadducees of property reverse the natural order and tell us that man's natural, political and social rights must stand to one side until they have first legislated upon the rights of property. When they have done this they will then talk upon man's natural rights, but when they have got through by placing upon the Statute Books their laws on vested rights and property rights, it is found that they have wholly destroyed and legislated out of existence the sacred rights of man. The basic idea of British jurisprudence is what they call the rights of property, and its origin is found in the ancient robbers grabbing the land and then fencing themselves round with regulations sustaining them in the possession of what they have grabbed ; these regulations they falsely call " laws." Because laws that mankind is morally bound to obey must be founded upon the principles of justice and equity. Mankind will always cheerfuUy give in their adhesion and render obedience to such statutes, because such laws will never contravene or override man's natural rights. All righteous jurisprudence must of necessity be, first, man's rights; second, property rights. Man is the greater, property is the lesser. This is both the natural order and the divine order. THE PRESS. ant ork. The Press is one of the great forces of modem civilization. It could be utilized with wonderful effect for the benefit and lifting up of humanity, but it is not. Like all else that goes to make up " society," it is prostituted to the one all-absorbing object of money-getting that rules everything. The newspapers of these days is supposed to be a vehicle through which we are supplied with the news of the world, — of what is transpir- 50 m iiig everywhere, and scraps of information about everything under the eun. It takes in hand too much, and it does nothing well. It would be much truer to say that newspapers are partisan organs and mere adver- tising mediums. The fortunes of party and the advertising constituency rule the paper. It is made to order and it is made to sell. It must therefore be made to please. There are splendid writers on the newspaper press. Men of clear intellect, acute reasoners and fine moral susceptibilities, but they are not allowed to write the language of their souls, the depth of their convictions and the moral conclusions of an exalted humanity. Why are they not t Because if the pages or columns of the newspaper were filled by writing in that strain they would reflect too much of the sunlight of truth, and would upset the darling object of our modern civilization, which is to get gain and do homage to the golden calf. Hence much that is contained in the newspapers bears the stamp of •unreliability. The very best articles, on whatever subject, are cooked and made to subserve some underlying interest or purpose. You can see at once that the writer has been curbed, has not given scope to his own free thoughts, but has been writing as a mere hireling for his penny pay. Yet we are continually boasting of our free, enlightened and independent press. In like manner the foreign despatches we get are all cooked. They do not present a true account of what is passing at foreign Courts and Countries. They are one and all dressed up to suit the the tastes and carry out the desires of some despot, or some bully of some despotic gov- ernment, who calls himself a leading statesman, a Bismarck for example. The advertisements are notoriously inflations and puffery and li^s. The modern newspaper taken as a whole, is therefore, a very fair repiesentative and exponent of our modern civilization. It wants the world to look upon it as sound, and worthy, and reliable ; but when you lift the veil and look upon it in its true aspect, you see it is nothing but a sham. The press, to be a true force in favour of humanity, should in these clays be more of a popular educator and propaganda of scientific truth than anything else. Perhaps there should be three or four orders of newspapers : 1st. — The Educational Press ; 2nd. — The Advertizing Press ; 3rd. — ^The purely News Press ; 4th. — The purely Political Press. By combining all these in one, as is the present mode, you spoil the whole. By separating these 'lit «p Vi ?' I ft 61 departments you might make each efficient and reliable ; by having them all in one mixed up cauldron you make efficiency an impossibility. It reminds one of the seethin^; cauldron at the witches' dance, the contents of which were : — '* Eye of newt, and tongue of frog, Wing of bat, and toe of dog. Double, rubble, toil and trouble, Witches dance, and cauldron bubble." In Darwin's theory of the evolution of man in an upward direction from the monkey to a higher state of being, it is said, that there is a mis- sing link. This is a pity, for if there were a direct line of nice fitting links along the whole course of his evolution theory, it would be so much more convincing ; but be this as it may, I am certain that along the whole lines of our modern civilization there would be found no missing link in the evolution of man in a hackioard direction, down as low as degradation^ and retrogression can go. The new state of things requir< d to make this world a happy pl^«' to live in might be summed up in the answer of Solon on the questfJl^Q . '* Which is the most perfect popular government ? " " That," saVg he, " Where the least injury dow *o the meanest individual is eonsideremag an insult on the lohole constitutv ." And yet Solon was a heathen, wjft lived 500 years before the Christian era. fair the you but