The Labor enquirer. [volume], January 23, 1886, Image 1

About The Labor enquirer. [volume] (Denver, Colo.) 1882-1888

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VOLUME VI.- NO. 4.
BAKOUNINE.
‘Zeno” Engages ,in a Bout
With “Liberty,” a Bost
. . ing Jourjflai.^^Rj
What Said the Groat Anarchist
Concerning Drim-B'iops
and Churches!
A Dlseusioa on tke Operation of Nat
tnral Laws—l Soft Soap "
Illustration.
For the Enquirer.
The following from Lit«rt_v :
It ia difficult to believs in the honesty
of “Zeno,” the State Socialist, when he
bases a two column article in the Den
ver Labor Enquirer on the aisumption
that Bakonnine in bis “God and the
State” favors the arbitrary closing of
dram-shops and churches. “Zeno”
quotes this sentence: “In substituting
for the it once illusory and brutal en
joyments of bodily and upiritual licen
tiousness the enjoyments, as refined as
they are abundant, of humanity devel
oped in each an I all, the Social Rev
olution alone will have the power to
close at the same time all the dram
; , shops and all the chuches.” This shows,
“Zeno” asserts, that Bakonnine was not
an opponent of the state as such, but
only wanted to substitute a r-ew state
for the existing states. Now, the con
text of Bakounine’s remarks on this
point shows conclnsirely that the idea
of closing dram-shoj san 3 churches bv
authority never entered his head. He
explains that the working people now
have no escape from the dreariness of
their lives, narrowed by poverty and
drudgery; except by debauchery—of
their bodies in the dram-shopu and of
their minds in the churches. But the
Social Revolution, he claims, by abol
ishing poverty, and cr ‘atipg a wide
range of enjoyments for the pec pie, will
take away the patronage of the dram
shops-and the churches, and thus result
in their closing. This is his meaning,
perfectly plain to any mao who under
stands English. I venture to assert
that no man in America, ixcep’- “Zeno,”
got the idea from reading "Goc! and the
State” that its author-favored the prohi
bition of dram-shops and churches. And
I don’t more than half believe that
“Zeno” did. It looks very much as if
“Zeno,” fearing the effect of Bat.ounine’s
tremendous onslaught on State Social
ism, felt the necessity of combatting
him, and saw no othbr wny to co it suc
cessfully than to attributo to htm opin
ions which he never thought of champi
oning.
I never asserted “that Bakounine was
not an opponent of the state as such.”
I said his language proven that in estab
lishing Anarchy he would employ the
most complete despotism, in his meth
ods.
"Power” and “result” are words of
different meaning; Liberty's attempt to
use them interchangeably will fail. One
thing is to be substituted for another, by
something with “power.” That some
thing is called Revolution which con
sists of rjots, and the plan of dividing
society up into lißts checked off for assas
sination, as pnnishment for seeking hap
piness according to old methods not
sanctioned bv Anarchists. Can coercion,
compulsion or authority be found in
riots? As authority “never entered his
head,” his conception of a riot must be
something resembline a picnic. My
conclusions are supported by other lines
from Bakounine, but Liberty leaves
them out.
“Until then, the people taken as a
whole will believe ; and if they have no
reason to believe, they will at least have
the right ?”
Why should a rational man say that a
right will be enjoved until a certain
time, unless the right ceases at that
time?
“Churches must be changed into
schools of human emancipation,” is still
more support
And what kind of.schools? Those in
which the child will be educated in al
most entire absence of liberty, answers
B-ikoiinine.
Liberty, please read “God and the
State” again and if you don’t like it,
translate it once more.
What power under Anarchy retains
the children in public schools and sets
the time for freedom to begin ? Who
shall say when an apprentice is compe
tent to serve the public; or when a
doctor shall be turned loose; or when
a youth is fit for society ?
An adult, ignorant of a true plan of
association, would seem as unfit for so
ciety as a half grown youth with equal
lack of knowledge: yet the adult devel
opes beet when all authority is removed,
but in the youth arises instincts of free
dom as the fruit of his despotic surround
ings. I,
Says Liberty again: “Anarchy is not
an institution, but rather the sworn en
emv of all institutions. Its essential
mifaion is the disintegration of institn
tions, wherever fonnd. An institution
implies authoritv.and force. Anarchy
poises itself on consent. Everv insti
tuted machine denies liberty. Liberty
is the life principle of Anarchy; hence,
liberty and the institution are natural
enemies.”
How about the schools in which lib
erty is absent? Previous to the above
Liberty had answered several inquiries
concerning the disposition of lepers and
small gox victims, aDd other hard ques
tions. Here is the answer;
away all childish puzzles, dear
friends, into your intellectual toy-boxes.
Stop yonraflly coniondrnm-making, and
look deeply and soberly into natural
law. If your firet faith ia not laid in
that, yon are still poor, iustitution-rid
THE LABOR ENQUIRER.
den children, —prieat-ndden, when yon
think you are not.”
“Anarchists are not trying to Bet ud a
system. Nature has provided the sys
tem in the very integral order of things,
if only the grip of authority can be loos
ened from human concerns and liberty
be allowed to awaken the responsive
life of natural reciprocity in social com
merce.”
Is it natural to combine and coerce
lepers and make them leave the commu
nity. We.build a hospital for small pox
victims; it is an institution and should
be destroyed.
Natural law must have caused the
small pox, the capitalist. Hanger, Rent
and Ignorance. - Apparently {here are
many natural laws. In which shall we
have faith ? If nature does not create
evil, then something must be more pow-*
erful than nature. We should pin our
faith to the weaker vessel. Those who
appeal to nature should prove the thing
they complain of to be above, below, or
ontside of nature.
If salvation lies in a certain one of
nature’s paths, that path most be known.
Mere removal of the old will not teach
the new.
Liberty says it will: “As surely will
the very best methods of social adjust
ment respond to given wants as fast as
men are set free .as do the laws of natural
combination respond in the chemist’s
laboratory the moment he sets given
elements free.”
I shall try it. I will take a quantity
of lve and a lot of grease into the back
yard and remove all restraint from
them. I shall protect them for a time
from all coercion, and if the resalt be
what I expect, I shall think nature is
making soap according to Liberty’s
formula.
Or, I will furnish all the ingredients
for soap, and place them at the disposal
of a person who knows nothing of soap
making, bnt who is entirely free; or I
will get a small newsboy to fill for me a
prescription to save my life. Is not
knowledge of more importance than the
removal of restraint ?
The illustration destroys the proposi
tion. Chemicals respond to the control
ling skill and knowledge of the chemist;
therefore, people will combine properly
in the absence of all skill and knowh
edge.
The druggist’s apprentice can mix ele
ments correctly if the druggist stands
'over him and controls every movement;
remove the control and he is helpless.
Now the control of ignorant people mast
be taken from the corrupt politicians
and given to the virtuous Anarchist. Ig
norance is always led by intelligence,
but it is controlled in either case. Edu
cation alone will enable the apprentice
to mix drugs, or the citizen to be self
reliant. Zeno.
The triaLof Thomas B. Barry, for Dar
ticipation in the strike of the mill men
of Michigan last summer, is in progress
at Saginaw. That portion of the testi
mony which has reached The Enquires
office, would be sufficient grounds for
the discharge of the defendant by any
honest jury. To show the high esteem
in which Comrade Barry is held in
Michigan, the following letter, written
by Governor Begole to one of the com
rade’s counsel, is given :
Flint, Mich., Jan. 8. 1886.
Hon. Frank L. Dodge:
My Dear Sib.— For several months
past I have expected and intended to at
tend the trial of our mutual friend, Rep
resentative Barry, but lam doomed to
disappointment. I cannot be with von
to express personally my sympathy for a
man that has borne much abuse and ill
treatment because he was the friend of
the poor and down-trodden. They have
treated him even worse than they dirt
me, because I had pardoned some poor
devil out of the state prison that-be
might die the next day in the bosom of
bis friends. Tell him that lam pleased
to see him surrounded by so many and
such able counsel, and that, too, among
his personal friends. In my humble
opinion his enemies cannot convict him.
Say to Barry that he has mv congratula
tions for being able to surround himself
with such an array of talent in his be
half. I know them all and count them
all my personal friends. lam glad that
yon go on with the trial
without further argument on the con
stitutionality of the law bv which he
was to be tried. I have not much faith
in technicalities; they are generally
overruled, and I tliinic should be. I
leave home with my wife for California
next Monday to spend the winter, that
is the only reason that I did not go to
Saginaw yesterday and have the privi
lege of listening to the debates for and
against our friend. Were he a republi
can he would have escaped this terrible
persecution, but I believe that he will
triumph over his enemies and will stand
np and he a greater terror to his ene
mies than ever before. We do not go to
California for our health, as we are both
of us very well, but go for fun, rest and
recreation, and the nearer the time ar
rives for leaving the more busy I find
myself. Please give mv kind regards to
your associates in this trial. I hope to
aee you all next summer ani to aid in
fighting our battle over again. I have
no especial political aspirations person
ally, but I hare never felt more like
fighting our opponents than now.
I have the honor to be truly yours,
J. W. Begole.
' The celebrated stiff Hats from the
Co operatime Hat company jost received
at Clayton’s.
Barry’s Friends.
DENVER, COLORADO, SATURDAY, JANUARY 23,1886.
RECONCILIATIONS.
“Sarassa” Thinks the Season
Propitious for Burying
the Hatchet,
Bnt He Goes for “Zeno's” Attack
Upon “Sidartha,” All
the Same.
A Crisis Coming Upon Society Which
is Destined to ReTolatienize
“Public Sentiment.”
For The Enquirer.
From time immemorial the New Year
has been the propitious season for rec
onciliation. For the time being recrimi
nation is oat of the fashion, and "Zeno”
most therefore excuse me from answer
ing the complaints found in his last
paper.
“Confession is good for the soul,” says
the old proverb, and I confess that it
was with a belligerent spirit that I com
menced onr discussion.
Being many years the eldest, and
thinking tbkt onr aspiring critic would
be much more efficient if he coaid be
taaght a few lessons, I was so vain as to
think I couia handle him without
gloves, and perhaps get the best of him.
Finding him determined to occupy a
partisan standpoint, and armed onlv
with the partisan weapons of ridicule
and sarcasm, boastfully attacking scien
tific truths—snch as the “atomic theory”
—I at once resolved if possible to foil
him with his own weapons, while re
taining mv own scientific vantage
gr ound.
If I have handled him too roughly I
ask his pardon, and leave the readers of
The Enquirer and its worthy editor to
decide if I have treated him unfairly.
At the same time I acknowledge that I
have enjoyed “the tournament” hugely.
“Sidartha’s” “Book of Life” and "the
atomic theory” are in no need of a de
fender. It would be presumption in me
to attempt their defense.
Both are the results of long years of
research and inquiry by scientists who
have penetrated “the Arcana of Nature”
to her profundest depths and from
thence have brought to us a knowledge
of her laws and enriched the world with .
th?ir discoveries.
Just within the portals of her temples
I reverently sit at their feet, an earnest
student, esteeming it a privilege “to
hear and ask them questions.”
“Sidartha” has sol vea many of the
problems of life for us with a master’s
hand and illustrated them in engravings
easily understood. I desire only to see
his works extensively circulated and
read among the industrial classes.
* "Zeno’s” inference that he teaches —
even inferentially—“that the magnifi
cent forces of the universe are different
■from and excel the great forces of the
‘earth” is one of those loose statements
peculiar to him that I have characterized
as “weak and flippant,” of which he
complains.
I would not willingly repeat the of
fense, but say that had he been an hon
est critic he would not have thus falsi
fied ‘‘Sidartha’s” position. For he
knows well that “Sidartha’s” teachings
and discoveries are based wholly on the
known laws and forces of nature as they
are known to man here on the earth.
In no sense does he teach “that God
made laws,” but always proves that the
laws of the universe, as those of Being,
are innate in the nature of things. He
demonstrates these laws by their known
modes of action and his hypotheses con
cerning spirit forces are logical deduc
tions from known modes of the action
of the mental forces and faculties.
He showe conclusively how man is
related to the universe through his men
tality, which perceives the fact that the
laws and forces of nature are applicable
to all worlds as well as to our earth, be
cause they are universal. He proves
beyond controversy that up to the pres
ent time man has lived in accord with
his developing brain organism, and
shows conclusively how in the near fu
ture society, will be reorganized under
the dominance of the unfolded organism
of the coronal region of the brain, when
bv a natural law, innate in these brain
organs, justice and equity will rule iD
all human society.
Until nature accomplishes this fall
ness of being, man will remain as he has
hitherto been, the slave of conditions
with which successfully cope
and the sport of a weird destiny.
It is with “social science,” as a solver
of “the labor problem,” that we must
first deal, and when the working classes
are guided bv reason and common sense,
instead of instinct and passion, they will
be nearing rapidly the end of “the irre
concilable conflict” between slavery and
freedom. Ido not think it profitable at
the present time to discuss the spiritual
philosophy as tanght by “Sidartha” with
"Zeno.”
I regard the innate power in man, to
investigate logically and scientifically
for ourselves, the phenomena of life and
being, and the nedfessity innate in ns to
solve the problems which- perplex us,
and control bv onr own acts human des
tiny as the natural outcome of the spiri
tual or mental faculties.
Hence, man bv an innate law of his
nature is compelled to become his own
savior or else he must remain the slave
of necessity. - ..
I judge that "Zebo” has reiehed a
“;WHO WOULD BE FREE HIMSELF MUBT STRIKE THE BLOW!”
point in his individuality that he cannot
transcend until he has subjected his
mind to a systematic coarse of culture
and scientific training, when he will
have become himself so spiritual minded
that be will be able to comprehend the
spiritual part of his nature without ask
ing aid of anyone.
In the meantime, let ns in a friendly
spirit discuss,the best way to meet the
impending emergency that is already
upon ns.
The use of machinery has so far dis
placed mannal labor as to render the old
system of wage labor extremely unreli
able as a means for sustaining existence.
This is bringing a crisis upon society
tnat is already rapidly Revolutionizing
public sentiment
Even the clergy begin to realize that
the inevitable conflict is near and they
are inquiring of the most radical leaders
of the labor agitation for information.
What is to be the final outcome?
Shall it be Anarchy or State Socialism ?
Or shall it be universal, industrial and
commercial Co-operation, or Commun
ism ?
Messianism recognizes all these forces
as natural in the transition period in
which we are living, and therefore nec
essary in the unfolding of the higher
brain organism that must eventually di
rect and control human relations and
conditions.
These are the live auestions of onr
times. Let as address ourselves to the
vfrork of bringing about their wise solu
tion.
N. B. —I wish vou and yours a Happy
New Year, and may you live long to
carry on the work you have so well be
gun.'
Mv eye just now fell ut>on youredito
rial in your issue of the ninth instant.
“All sound-minded students of the labor
question know that its solution can only
be found in universal, governmental
co-operation." I agree with vou fully.
Bnt shall we put the new wine into the
old bottles that will break and spill it,
or will we wisely construct the new and
adapt it to the new conditions. ? Let us
discuss this question in The Enquirer
from all sides .of the labor agitation.
Sarassa.
Editor Labor Enquirer.
I notice that the papers make an im
mense effort to impress ns with some
tangible idea of the enormensness of
Vanderbilt’s $180,000,000. They show
bow many miles it would stretch; how
many acres it would cover; how many
locomotives it would take to move it,
etc. Now what I wish to see as plainly
set forth, is, how many thousand men
are obliged to work for nothing, year
in, year out, when one man (or ten) has
succeeded in sweeping into his own cof
fers thiß vast snm ? Money is nothing
except as it is the sign of labor, a con
venient means of exchange which was
long ago agreed on.
Our present laws, -which were all
made for the benefit of capital, permit
one man by much scheming and plan
ning—by occasional scratches of a pen
as he sits in his office —to possess him
self of the earnings of thousands of his
fellows. Now what I ask is, how many
unpaid labor-slaves toil yearly to create
the Vanderbilt millions? N—972.
Pittsburg, Jan. 17. —A Post Mount
Pleasant, Pennsylvania, special says:
Serious trouble and perhaps bloodshed
is expected at the Standard and Moore
wood coke works to morrow. The
striking Hungarians have been drinking
all day, and they threaten violence to
anyone whq goes to work. The coke
company have secured a number of
workmen, and will attempt to operate
their ovens to-morrow.
Fearing an outbreak, the sheriff of
Westidoreland county, in response to a
telegram asking for assistance, sent a
posse of twenty men from Greensburg,
to-night to protect the workmen and the
company’s property.
Fraud Under the Homestead Act.
A woman who is trying to earn a living
on a homestead in the far west writes
thattheland in all* directions_ within
five miles of her—amount to some 400
homesteads of 160 acres—is held by spec
ulators, who procured it by fraudulent
entry,and that, for this reason,
have no neighbors. There is a great
deal of hard work that should be done
by the Land Commissioner, and we trust
that Mr. Sparks will not allow j the
clamor of jobbers to prevent him from
doing it.—New York Times.
Carpenters' of LofSiJ Union 55, are
urgently requested to attend meeting on
January 23, as important business will
oe transacted. 3-2 t
One hundred and twenty or more lots
in first addition to Swansea to be dis
posed of in parcels of half blocks and
quarter blocks, and in parcels of four to
six lots. These lots are close to theline
of the Kansas Pacific railway, are all
nnder ths city ditch and afford to per
sons of limited means a good opportu
nity to seeure a home or to make a safe
investment. Lots in this neighborhood
have been disposed of at prices ranging
from SIOO to $125 each. These will be
sold at a much lower figure.
For terms and fall particulars call on
Robert Morris & Co., Agents.
372 Curtis street.
Knights of Labor, pay no attention to
the advertisements of men who aell ten
ement-house cigars. Boy none bat the
Union Label.
Tidbald <£ Behymer, Undertaking and
Embalming, No. 267 17th Street, Denver.
All work warranted.
Vanderbilt’s Millions.
Trouble Feared.
Notice.
For Sale at a Sacrifice.
A ROYAL PAUPER.
Why There is Discontent
Among the Workers of
Great Britain.
The Rats That Feed Fat Upon
the House Thai Guelph
Built
Some of the High Salaries Received
by the Aristocrats Who Do Not
Need Nor Earn Them.
Foreign Correspondence.
It is commonly said that her majesty
is enormously rich and goes on amass
ing money every year. She is said to
give large private incomes to her Ger
man relatives, and all this while her
subjects have to face hard times. We
find a lord steward, whose only known
duty is to dine once in awhile with the
qaeen, SIO,OOO. Under him is a treas
urer, who help him to dine, $4,520. The
chief cook, $3,5000 a year. Let ns hope
the pie is as good as the pay. To help
the chief are four under cooks at $1,750 a
year. High life below stairs! Ameri
can clergymen with large families please
applv. Broken victuals in abundance
for the poor relatives. The keeper of
the wine cellar, $2,500, and as the wines
are good and old and fljw-freelv the
keeper has a lucious time of it. No tee
totaler need apply. Persistent prohibi
tionists will be ducked in a beer barrel.
For an old-fashioned court of justice
in the kitchen to settle qnaarels among
the servants we have to pay $9,400 a
year. Let us hope the hired girls make
things lively for the judge, so that he
may do something for his bread. A
mistress of the robes, generally a duch ■
ess, $2,500; eight ladies of the bed
chamber, $2,500 each. Most of th»m are
daughters of peers. Thev attend at
court fourteen days three times a year,
dine at the queen’s table, do not sav
grace but give grace at it, and as for
work, such a vulgor thing is not to be
thought of, but they are all vulgar
enough to take vulgar money for doiog
nothing. Bat what ernstv republican
would say a word against the little dears
and the nice little sum? There are
eight maids of honor —$1,500 a year each
—who go to court for a month three
times a year; only that and nothing
more. To keep them from getting dull
and to help them in doing nothing there
are eight bed-chamber women —$1,500 a
year each.
But here comes the fnnnv man of the
concern. Thev call him “gold stick,”
and all the ingenuity of the most loyal
has never yet found out what he does
except that on rare occasions he carries
a gold stick. .One thing else he does.
Sure, he gets and takes $5,000 a year.
When the place is open for competition
or when the work is to be done by con
tract some of us would carry a gold stick
once in awhile for a tenth of the amount,
besides filling a dozen or two of the
other offices for nothing. After gold
stick conies silver stick—s2,soo. After
him, standard-bearer —$1,900. Master
of the horse, $12,500 a year, and to help
him horse play he has'five gen
tlemen who draw among them, not the
carriages but the dollars, to the tune of
$20,000 a year.
The earl of Cork is master of the bnck
hounds, $7,500 a year, and with him goes
the grand falconer, $6,000, who does
nothing but appear on state occasions,
and as her majesty has lived in retire
ment for the last twentv-three years one
has difficulty in finding out what the
aforesaid gentlemeti do for their wages.
We suggest the negro plan of sending
them.their resignations.
Here also are a few significant items :
$50,000 a vear for wine, the same for
butcher meat, $16,000 a vear for wash-”
ing tabie-linen, $60,000 a year for get
ting and mending furniture, $50,000 a
year for carriages and liveries. Some
time ago $40*3,000 was spent for new
stables at Windsor castle, $1,500,000 for
a new batYl-room at Buckingham palace
—not a penny of it from the queen’s
own purse. Last vear the royal yachts
cost us $173,280. When the queen goes
abroad we pay her traveling expenses
and that of her household, She has
about $1,000,000 of salary, has three es
tates, and 27,000 acres of land. >The
prince of . Wales, a yearly income of
$700,000. On reaching his majority he
got $3,000,000 that had accumulated
from the dnebv of Cornwall. Yet the
prince complains of poverty. His trios
to India and Canada cost us $1,000,000.
Some time ago there died a rich old
barrister, and as he had got it into his
head that the qaeen is a poor woman he
left her all his fortune, amounting to
$1,250,000, besides estates worth as much
more.
Now, be it known to all whom it may
concern that Mr. John Ball is very pa
tient and very fat. He can take kindly
to bleeding, and allows the nobility to
make pretty lncious paddings by bleed
ing him, bat, if I am not mistaken, the
red rags of royalty are getting a little
too much for his Bnllship, and we may
look out for a rampage at an early date.
It is high time. There are 200 families in
England who have drawn public money
for themselves and relatives the some
what significant snm of $250,000,000, and
the drain still goes on. Poor Hodge ,the
English farm laborer, gets $2.50 a week
to Bring np a family of ten children.
The highland crofter has often even less
tnan that pittance, and if they com
plain they are called radicals, land
leagures, and the like. The parson
preaches against them and the ’squire
evicts them.
No wonder there is a revolt against
royalty and landlordism. Many of the
leading radicals are also republicans and
would be glad to have a clean sweep
made of the tomfoolery. A peer of the'
realm wrote a letter the other week
which I saw, and he advised hard-work
ing men to accept $3.25 a week as
enough wages in these times. He is one
of the largest land-owners in the coun
trp. High places do not favor calculat
ing simple proportion. From such
items has arisen the republican under
ground current of Britain, and Ameri
can readers, knowing the facts, need not
wonder if the weight of the pressure on
the safety-valve should prove too much
for the boiler, and—the funeral expen
ses will be considerable. The late-la
mented old regime will rest in pieces.-
<1 Duncan Macgkegor.
» ' —■ 1 ■ — 1 }
AMERICAN TENANT FARMERS.
Within a Quarter ot a Century this
Country Has Become as Bad as
Great Britain.
Chicago Herald.
In a well advised sermon to young
people Rev. Mr. Jackßon, of the Cente
nary church, expressed the hope that
no such land accumulations as had
cursed Ireland, where the tiller is not
the owner of the soil, would ever be
countenanced in this country.
Unhappily, America Is fast hurrying
to the very condition which the preacher
seems to regard as remote and scarcely
to be apprehended. Having possessed
the richest domain that ever fell to the
part jof a nation, America is to-day con
fronted by the fact that, unable under
ordinary conditions to acquire more,
she is now possessed of available public
lands suitable for cultivation of no
greater extent than the area of the state
of Ohio. With amazing prodigalitv,
corrupt in many instances, reckless in
all, congress after congress has bestowed
the great patrimony of the country upon
irresponsible corporations, and in its
land laws has opened wide the doors to
to the cunning speculators. Uncle Sam
is no longer rich enough, as the old song
ran, to give ns all a farm, and the condi
tions are now such that the arriving emi
grant has no possible chance, unless in
some degree he is a capitalist, to become
the owner of the soil that he tills. His
oue c lance is to rent, with the prospect
that he will never do more than acquire
a bare existence. If he borrow his con
dition is in nowise improved. The life
of a tenant farmer must needs be a hard
and ceaseless struggle for bread. When
he will have discharged his rent, or if
he is only nominally an owner borne
down by a heavy rate of interest, he
will find himself unable to accumulate.
To go west in search of the little govern
ment land that remains ’ie must have,
first, the cost of transportation, next, the
cost of entry, and then sufficient addi
tional funds to purchase necessary im
plements, if he does'not own these, and
maintenance for a vear for himself and
his family. '
The comfortable opinion prevails in
this country that agriculture, which is
one great source of its wealth, is happily
conducted bv owners of the soil -thev
cultivate. It is the fashion to contrast
onr situation with the deplorable condi
tion of the European countries cursed
with a landed aristocracy. Bnt what are
the facts? It is disclosed by a recent
examination made bv Mr. Gill, who
communicates the resnlt of his study
to the North American Review, that
there are more tenant farmers in the
United States than in Great Britain,
that the labor of the tenants -on lands
supports the tiller not only but enables
a rapidly accumulating class oflandlords
to live in utter idleness. Here in Illi
nois there are, according to the cen
sus of 1880, no less than 80,000 tenant
farmers. Their chance of ever acquir
ing ownership in the soil that is tilled
on shares is remote. An examination
ofthe laws of the various states dis
closes that the chaptersn leases is made
almost wholly in the interest of land
lords, and that the rights of tenants are
little more regarded than under the
landlord system of Great Britain.
Almost insensibly America, rich in
virgin. land bevoud the dream of any
other country the sun ever shone upon,
has built up the landlordism which the
people still fancy does not exist. The
farmer is indeed, as” Mr. Jackson says,
a sovereign, bnt with this important
qualification —he most be a proprietor.
Otherwise his lot ia one of hopeless
drudgery, of ceaseless struggle. And the
American farmers who are not owners
exceed the proprietors. This lamenta
ble situation has grown np daring
a quarter of a century when the greatest
public domain in the world has been
lavished noon speculators and has en
riched the few at the expense of the
many. _
The excitement abont home rate
onght not to blind ns to the fact that the
state of affairs in Ireland is becoming
more and more serious. “Fair rents” as
they are called, are so grossly unfair
that the people are remsttng their pay
ment and evictions are beginning.
What we do not understand are the
ferocious attacks on bailiffs. These poor
wretches are but paid underlings and to
half-kill them is surely cowardly.—Lon
don Justice.
PRICE FI YE CENTS
RISKY METHODS.
So Dtoielewicz Thinks of the
Sail Francisco Anti-Chi
nese Convention.
,• * . i *5
He Comes to His Own Defease
Against the Attacks of
“A Delegate.”
A Socialist Who lueludes the Op
pressed of All Loads la His “la.
ternational Brotherhood.”
Editor Labor Enquirer.
San Francisco, Jan. 10.—Considering
your lai» appeal to contributors to “boil
down” their articles, it is not a very
pleasant task lam undertaking to-day,
for I beg for space to reply to a lengthy
communication which appeared in the
latest issae of your journal over, the nom
de plume of “A Delegate to the Conven
tion,” and lam fearfnl that
my reply will of necessity be equally
lengthy.
“A Delegate to the Convention,” in
criticising my denial of the assumption
by the capitalistic .press that the late
labor convention had gpne Socialistic,
asserts that Social is Hi simply means a
“people’s government.” This, in ray
estimation is igross Mistake. If I un
derstand the principles of Socialism cor
rectly, they do neither consist in one
nor in fifty million tyraift’s government,
bnt in Justice. And neither “A Dele
gate to. the Convention” nor any other
honest and humane, person can deny
that it is a great injustice to drive thou
sands of haul an beings off a spot of
earth, that as hnmah beings belongs to ‘
them as well as to the would-be drivers,
and to which if they agree to and do
perform useful services for society they
have a natural right, especially when
nature is so bounteous that nnder a sys
tem ot correct labor valuation millions
more could live in luxury. •
As I intimated above, the fact of 50,-
000,000 of people, which, I suppose, “A
Delegate to the Convention” means by
the term of “a people’s government”
committing or attempting to commit
such an outrage upon fellow beings,
doss by no means justify It, for 50,000,000
wrongs will never constitute one right
any more than one wrong will.
That onr friend’s definition of Social
ism is imperfect may be illustrated by
the very fact of our comrades in Enrope
having adopted the term, “Social Demo
crats.” Democracy simply means an
administration of the people for all pro
gress, evil as well as good. Social De
mocracy means an administration of the
people for the purpose of good onlv, for
Justice.
To prove that my protest against the
consideration by the capitalistic press of
the action of the convention as Socialis
tic was not lacking the moral support of
prominent comrades I beg to point out
the fact that the verv comrade, who I
am persuaded to think was the origin
ator of the anti-Chinese resolutions as
passed by the convention, when noticing
misinterpretations of the capitalistic
press and becoming conscious of and
alarmed at the injury done thereby to
the cause of Socialism, himself suggested
to me the vindication of onr principles
and even without my invitation wrote
out for me the “appendage” in question
which, being perfectly in harmony with
my views, I copied verbatim with the
slight change of the words, “the whole
people” in place of the words, “the gov
ernment.”
“A Delegate to the Convention” has
simply erred as other mortals have be
fore him and many more will after him.
He meant to take advantage of the anti-
Chinese craze in order to farther the
cause of Socialism. But his method was
a dangerous one. Expediency is cer
tainly a necessary feature of every re
form movement Bnt when expediency
is placed above principle by the adop
tion of methods which interfere with
the principle itself then it is irrational
because it defeats the verv end for the
attainment of which it was intended to
be applied. Manceverings of this kind,
too, degrade one to the level of the com
monality of “politicians;” they are un
worthy of true Socialists.
In conclnsion, I beg to state that my
opposition to the anti-Chinese policy
was well Known to our comrades before
we went into the convention; that I
declared the same in session of the cen
tral eommittee of the I. W. A., before I
was elected a delegate to the conven
tion and that the comrades even sug
gested and agreed themselves that I
should place mv views on the Chinese
question from a Socialistic standpoint
before the convention. I therefore only
performed my dnty as the comrades
under the .circumstances should have
expected of me. Why, therefore, the
raising of that much “dost ?” If I could
afford to have them sit by quietly when
I was being bulldozed upon the floor of
the convention in the attempt of expres
sing my views and defining mv position,
if I, after the injury which, as I keenly
felt, the cause was receiving by their
actions kept silent for the sake of inter
nal peace and harmony, being convinced
that it was on their part simply an error
of the mind and not of the heart, and
that time would prove my position to be
the correct one—why should they now
make a display in print and amuse onr
enemies by exposing onr inconsisten
cies? Fraternally,
Sicismund Daniklkwioz.