Remedy for existing evils, social and political, and necessarily a preventive of all conflicts between capital and labor

Front matter

UNITE© STATES OF A

J

REMEDY

Dedication

In that model of biographies, The Life of Agricola, Tacitus informs us that a love of fame is the incentive of noble minds. However that may be, in the work now dedicated to you, the prize sought is the most glittering and seductive that any one impelled by a love of fame, and inspired by an ambition honorable and noble could covet.

To whom could such a work be so becomingly dedicated as to one who, in defiance of a public opinion which if depraved was never more potential, refused to disrobe himself of the attributes that would alone entitle him to honor and distinction for the sake of office, and yet who,aftersuch an exhibition of true greatness, finding the road closed to all who aspired to become public benefactors could, in the spirit of a noble philanthrophy, emulate the example of the self-sacrificing Howard, who, in the language of Burke, " made a voyage of discovery, a circumnavigation of charity to collate distresses, to gauge wretchedness, and to take the dimensions of human misery." Above all, to whom could one so becomingly as to yourself, dedicate the work of a lifetime, and a labor of love, for the amelioration of the condition of the human race, the exaltation of humanity through some governmental contrivance whereby government should be made to subserve the purposes designed by the Benignant Being who ordained government. For, since the preservation of the social state is essential to perpetuate the race, while to its exaltation civilization is es-

DEDICATION.

Author's Preface

The announcement of such remedy, the author is well aware, will be met with skepticism and doubt; not only because such efforts have hitherto failed, but because, owing to the predominance of our selfish over our social feelings, failure is considered inevitable — a foregone conclusion. Whereas, it is such predominance of the selfish over the social feelings alone that makes such remedy possible, instead of impossible, as generally supposed ; and it is in such predominance alone that exists the necessity for such remedial agency, as the author will now proceed to show.

To show, then, that such remedy is possible, let us suppose the selfish and social feelings were in equilibrium ; then it would depend upon circumstances whether man acted upon his own volition, or that of others.

Now let us suppose the social predominated over the selfish feelings ; man would then be at the bidding of others. In neither case could there be any free agency. "Where there is no free agency, there can be no responsibility ; and where there is no responsibility, no obligations can be imposed; and of course, where no obligations can be imposed, no remedial agency can be enforced or applied. So, that, it is only because man is more selfish than social that any such remedial ageney as is proposed becomes either necessary or possible. And here the argument might close in favor of the possibility and necessity of the remedy proposed. But what is still more conclusive to show such remedial agency, as proposed, is not only possible but necessary, is the fact that God ordained government as an instrumentality through which the selfish feelings should be so restrained as to preserve the social state, which is essential to man's continued existence, and to foster or develop civilization. Grod could not have ordained an im-

PKEFACE.

possibility. But the skepticism, or doubt, is not against the possibility of an ordinance of God in the abstract as government is; but such skepticism or doubt is, as to the possibility of putting such instrumentality in practical operation, so that the evils proposed to be remedied shall not be engendered. Such, the author frankly admits, has hitherto been impossible. But because such has hitherto been the result, it does not necessarily follow that such result is inevitable, or that such result is right. On the contrary, to say that evil necessarily results from an ordinance of God would be to make Him the Author of evil, which is impossible. Hence, then, as evil does not necessarily inhere in such instrumentality, it may be eliminated therefrom ; at least to such extent, that the beneficent results, designed by Him who ordained government, may be realized ; and in a reconstruction of that instrumentality, for such purpose, consists the remedy proposed.

REMEDY FOE EXISTING EVILS,

AND NECESSARILY

Preyentiye of all Conflicts Between Capital and Labor.

In order to prescribe a suitable and adequate remedy, one must understand the nature and character of the disease, its location, and the causes which have engendered the disease. That defective government is the cause of political evils ; that political evils produce social evils, engendering disease in the social state and the body-politic, resulting in a diseased civilization, as seen in the evils sought to be remedied, and the threatened conflicts sought to be prevented, I will now proceed to show, treating in

Chapter I. Of Government

What, then, is Government? Government is an instrumentality ordained of God, for the preservation of the social state, in order to perpetuate the race and to foster and develop civilization.

In order to show the nature and character of the civilization developed under existing governmental institutions, and how developed, I shall treat in

CHAPTER IT.

OF THE CIVILIZATION OF THE XIX CENTURY.

Man becomes the creature of .civilization on account of the attributes or endowments conferred upon him by his creator. He is a moral being because he has conscience, a sense of right and wrong. He is an intellectual being because he has reason ; and he is a physical being because he has bones and muscles, and thews and sinews. From these he derives hopes and aspirations for an improved condition — a higher mode of existence; for, in a word, civilization. This requires physical exertion — labor. So that labor as a necessity, whether recognized as a penalty or not, is aknowledged, felt. At the same time becomes manifest a desire to evade, so far as possible, this admitted necessity. The only mode of evading which, however, is by exploitation upon the labor of others. Carried out to its final results, this, without restrictions or limitations, would lead to intolerable oppressions of the weaker by the stronger and more powerful, and in fact to the destruction of the social state. And, as this state is essential to the perpetuation of the human race, unless prevented, man would relapse into the barbarian condition foregoing civilization or perish. To preserve the social state, and to enable man to realize the civilized condition or mode of existence, God has ordained Government to hold in check his selfish, which predominate over his social feelings. Hence man is a social and political being. Being ordained of God, Government is not a matter of choice with man, we may, therefore, conclude the civilized state was designed for man by the Author of his being.

But while he has thus endowed man and ordained such an instrumentality as government for his use to enforce the sanctions of the duties He has enjoined, He has also deeply planted in the moral and political world a principle of retributive justice that never fails, sooner or later, for every act of vice or folly to recoil upon its authors, Under these circumstances, and subject to these conditions, is commenced the career of civilization. In its progress the first class found unable to continue the struggle, or who are thrown hors de combat, are the poor or mendicants. And to this extent government has failed in it mission, for if not exclusively so, this disposition to appropriate or exploitate upon the labor of others is the main cause of such failure, the only exception being those who from imbecility are incapacitated to continue the struggle. For this disposition is prompted by the selfish feelings which it was designed government should check and control. Hence, for this reason, the moral sense if not shocked is at least offended, and hence they are not left to perish by the wayside, but are placed under the care of the government. But those who are mainly responsible for this failure are those who control the government and not only those who seek to exploitate upon other*, but also to live themselves by the government, for with the very inauguration of government begins a struggle as to who shall live by the government, and who shall support the government. Of course, then, the government would be burdened as lightly as possible in providing for this class, and their wants and necessities circumscribed within the narrowest limits. And as the struggle continues their numbers increase, while their condition sinks lower and lower until finally they become degraded. From degraded beings the ranks of criminals are recruited. For if poverty, though in itself no crime, degrades, and crime does no more, where is the difference ? Hence those in a degraded condition, from poverty, will run the risk of perpetrating crime, for if detected they sink no lower ; and if undetected may rise above the condition to which poverty has so unjustly consigned them. And this class is strongly re-inforced by another, class who find themselves

16 ' EEMEDY FOR EXISTING EVILS,

hopelessly and unjustly sinking into a like condition of the first class that will risk the perpetration of crime to keep above such degradation. For if unpunished they will succeed, and if punished their condition will be no lower than- that to which poverty would certainly consign them ; for since poverty degrades crime can do no more.

However it may have been in other countries certainly in the United States the increase in numbers of the second class became so rapid the moral sense was thereby shocked. Then a strenuous effort was made to extend the school system so as to place the means of a limited education within the reach of all, upon the ground that ignorance was the parent of vice. This, however, failed to accomplish the objeet desired, and then sprung up the demand for penitentiaries as reformatory institutions. But every effort so far has failed, and signally failed. Worse still, so great has been the wear and tear, the harrassing cares and anxieties to continue the struggle and escape the catagory of either of the classes named, that we find institutions all over the land, until recently unknown, called "Insane Asylums," and a third class called "Lunatics," while many, in order to avoid either of these catagories, abdicate humanity — commit suicide. Various causes have been assigned as producing results so deplorable. Most generally it is alleged to exist in a want of material prosperity, and that may be and probably is the proximate cause; but. in .a country like England, however great her prosperity, the masses do not advance in civilization, because all the profit* earned at home and abroad go into the pockets of her aristocracy. To a limited extent they are shared by the so-called gentry, an inferior aristocracy; but to the masses, the millions of her population, all is denied above a meagre subsistence for a life of unremitting toil and industry from the cradle to the grave; and if unable to toil the only alternative is want, destitution, starvation.

The real cause of the disordered and abnormal state of things, resulting in a diseased civilization, of which social and

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL. IT

political evils are the exponents, is to be seen in the abuse of the taxing power of the government It matters not how constructed, with what powers clothed, to conduct its operations money is essential. As it earns no money it must take it out of the pockets of those who earn it, and to this end, since government is essential to the preservation of the social state and to the development ot civilization, man, as a social and political being, can not object if the amount be necessary to supply its necessary and legitimate wants, and if the sums taxed be fairly and equitably assessed, collected and disbursed.

But money is no less essential to continue the struggle of civilization than to conduct governmental operations; and all who fall short of the amount needed for this purpose are consigned to one or the other of these classes named, become outlaws and are left without hope and without God in the world. The cause, to which all others are subordinate and insignificant, of the mendicancy, crime, insanity and suicide, thus degrading and brutalizing humanity, is to be seen in the abuse of the taxing power, whereby more of the earnings of those who earn the money are taken than is necessary to supply the legitimate wants of the government, leaving not enough in the pockets of those who earn the money to continue the struggle of civilization. I shall, therefore, proceed to make good this assertion by treating in

Chapter III. Of Taxation And Money

We have seen government was ordained of God to preserve the social state, in order to perpetuate the race, that the condition of the race might be exalted through the development of civilization ; and that to conduct governmental operations and to advance in civilization, or even continue the struggle, money is essential. If, then, government, through the taxing

18 KEMEDY FOE EXISTING EVILS,

power, leaves not enough in the pockets of those who earn the money, for such purpose, the very end and object for which government was ordained are defeated, and in defeating the beneficent results designed by the Benignant Being who ordained it, government becomes a curse instead of a blessing. To prevent such abuse of the taxing power under our system of. government it is considered taxation and representation should go together; that is, that those who pay the taxes should vote, and in this right of suffrage it was believed would be found a guaranty against the oppression and injustice resulting from an abuse of the taxing power. To test the correctness of this opinion it becomes necessary to ascertain vjho pay the taxes. The only accretion of wealth to a community comes from the products of the soil, and these are the results of labor. So it would seem, labor in the last analysis pays the tax, because without an accretion of wealth there can be no material prosperity and without material prosperity there can be no money, and no money no taxes for taxes are money levied or collected. And so Mr. Webster must have thought in saying "Labor was the source of all prosperit) . and therefore it was the duty of government to give labor encouragement and protection and not to destroy it. Then, if labor pays the tax and those who pay the taxes alone should vote ii follows irresistibly that laborers alone should vote. This, however, would be manifestly unjust; for the industries, and they alone, create wealth. It follows, then. as to put the industries in operation requires a combination of labor and money or capital (as money in such case is called), there can be without such combination no accretion of wealth; and if this be true, and there can be no mistake about it, instead of a representation of persons upon principle that taxation and representation should, go together, the industries the great and leading interests of society including capitalists and laborers, should be represented. 1 know it will be urged as a control over a man's living is virtually a control over his actions such a representation would b# virtually only a representation of capital. That is to say, unless the laborer voted as the capitalist in whose employ he was, the capitalist would say to the laborer his services were no longer desired. There is no doubt such power has been cruelly exercised, especially by monopolists. But let us take one thing at a time.

I am not now discussing the question as to how contracts between employers and employ ees should be regulated, nor the rates of wages. The question is to see how the power of rotation by the government is abused, and if possible how to prevent such abuse. I assert, however, such abuse on the part of employees may be prevented; but of this hereafter. It is not in this way the capitalist will seek to promote his interest through the abuse of the taxing power of the government. He will seek through the taxing power of the government to promote his interest at the expense of some other interest or interests.

For example, the manufacturing capitalist will seek the enactment of laws creating an increase of the customs, taxes, or dues, upon all such articles as he manufactures; because he knows whether it be the producer or consumer some one pays the increased taxes, and thereby he is enabled to sell his goods at an enhanced price. Not only so, he pockets all for which he sells his goods, paying nothing to the govern, ment, and that while others are supporting the government he is living by the government, which has become to him a money-making machine. To accomplish this result he will aid the government in breaking down all barriers intended for the limitation and restriction of the taxing power to prevent its abuse.

I am not making these statements to show what a man will do because he is a capitalist, or has money, for so long as our selfish predominate over our social feelings, such will be the result, unless prevented; and if the laborer who complains was in his shoes, he would probably clo the same thing. Not only so, rulers are but men, are more selfish than social, and

20 KEMEDY FOE EXISTING EVILS,

therefore they will bring the power and patronage of the government to bear on office-holders, for the consummation of such oppression and injustice, for so doing they are not only increasing their revenues, but augmenting their power. And it follows clearly and conclusively if, with a representation of persons the taxing power can be, it will be, so long as our selfish predominate over our social feelings, so perverted as to promote one interest at the expense of another.

If representation is to be made to accomplish what it is desired it should, then the interest or industry at whose expense such laws are enacted should be represented to protect itself.

A representation of interest would be better than a representation of persona, there can be no doubt. Such abuse of the taxing power it is that has given currency to the sayings "power is always stealing from the many to the few," and that " government may be compared to that elementary power in mechanics, the screw, which holds all it gets and is always ready for a new revolution to acquire more."

It is, however, through the artificial industries that disastrous results from the abuse of the taxing power maybe more clearly seen, and owing to discoveries and inventions of a more recent date, such industries have become numerous. Let us take the discovery of steam-power in its application to travel and transportation through railways, constructed by the concentration of capital in chartered companies called "corporations." It is true, as alleged, they have greatly enhanced the price of lands through and contiguous to which they pass, but while the enhanced prices increase the taxes upon such lands they were not thereby made more productive. But it was alleged in the facilities thus furnished for the transportation for the products of these lands to more distant markets and these enhanced prices, there would be found ample compensation for any damage the owner of the lands might sustain, and the increased taxes he would have to pay. Instead of which it is alleged such enhanced prices and more have been consumed in transportation charges. And this I presume in many instances is true. And where efforts have been made by the great agricultural interest, which is the greatest sufferer, to prevent such injustice, amounting in many instances to extortion, it is said through the power and influence of their concentrated capital these corporations have sougbt to influence elections for the purpose of controlling the law-making power, and have even, as it is alleged, tampered with judicial officers ; that through their influence men in high positions have betrayed the most solemn trusts, confided to them by an honest constituency, and laid their country's glory and honor in the dust. And now what? How is this to be explained ? From my standpoint the explanation is easy ; that the people bargained in good faith for cheap transportation and enhanced prices there can be no doubt, nor is there in my mind any doubt as to the good faith of the other side — the corporators.

But owing to the abuse of the taxing power the country has become impoverished so that when corporators of railway companies formerly sold thousands of tickets they now sell only hundreds, if so many. No money — no material prosperity, people must stay at home. The Corporators, as was natural, have sought to protect their interests, and of course wanted to protect their labor. But under the blighting influence of the abuse of the taxing power, paralyzing the industries and pauperizing the people, production is so little in excess of consumption, consumers outnumbering producers, that we may say production has ceased. So that even then powerful corporations, with all their concentrated capital, have been sold out ; many having passed into the hands of receivers, while those surviving have been forced to curtail their labor and to reduce the wages of that retained

to starvation prices, so that the laborer has found his burden insupportable ; and hence, ignoring existing institutions," the laborers in frenzied excitement for redress have, in some of the States, appealed to force which has resulted in what in the slang of the day are called strikes.

22 KEMEDY FOR EXISTING EVILS,

Strikes are conflicts between labor and capital, and unless some corrective be applied we may hear the future audibly announced in the conflicts of the recent past. Hence, we hear railway companies denounced as monopolies, upon which have been conferred exclusive privileges for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many. If this be true it is of itself not only a powerful but conclusive argument against a system of representation that would aid to visit such oppression and injustice upon the people, especially the laborers, who, if not the exclusive, are by far the greater sufferers. Put all expected, and had a right to expect, a material prosperity unparalleled; instead of which, however^ we have been reduced, and in this way, as well as through numberless others, to a poverty represented through the abuse of the taxing power, and let it not be forgotten.

Of such abuse comes the public oppression and of the public oppression Rev. Dr. Wayland, President of Brown University, R. I., says: " It drinks up the spirit of a people by inflicting wrong through means of an agency which was created for the sole purpose of preventing wrong ; and which was intended to be the ultimate and faithful refuge of the friendless." When the antidote to evil becomes the source of evil what hope for man is left ? When society itself sets the example of peculation what shall prevent the individuals of that society from imitating that example? Hence public injustice is always the prolific parent of private violence. The result is, that capital emigrates, production ceases, and a nation either sinks down in utter despondency, or else the people harrassed beyond endurance and believing their condition can not be made worse by any change, rush into all the horrors of civil war ; the social elements are dissolved ; the sword enters every home ; the holiest ties which bind men together are sundered, and no prophet can predict, at the beginning what will be the end."

I do not agree with Dr. Wayland, that a people like ours, so long accustomed to so large a liberty, and until a very recent period blessed with a great and solid material prosperity, will sink down without resistance into a condition of despondency. Such would naturally be the result in England, and in European countries, where the people in passing froni feudalism or from domestic servitude, passed into a condition of political servitude, which all know, the world over, is worse than domestic servitude. They will resist the public oppression, but whether successfully or not by force, is another question. But having justice and right on their side, if they will put these in the concrete peaceably, as they have it in their power to do, in the remedy proposed, they would in so doing achieve the grandest victory in its results for the amelioration and exaltation of the race the world has ever witnessed ; not excepting that announced by that celebrated state paper The Declaration of Independence, which was made good by our final victory at Yorktown; and I say to the millions with whom I sympathize, justice and right are truth, and truth is indestructible, but truth in the abstract is of little or no value practically. And as all are not in the habit of abstract reasoning as the matter is of transcendant importance, because the difference between life and death is not greater than between truth in the abstract and truth in the concrete, I will illustrate my meaning : Let us then, take for illustration steam power ; that is a truth, for you can see it when you put a vessel with water in it and a top on it to boil; steam will raise the top. But of what use ? It is a truth, and truth is indestructible. But it is of no practical value in the abstract, yet, when through the devices and contrivances of the steam engine, you put it in the concrete and apply it to purposes of transportation and travel, to diversify pursuits, and to multiply industries, it becomes the most potential power that man can wield in the material world. So when justice and right* are put in the concrete, as hi the remedy proposed, to prevent the abuse of the- taxing power, you will be enabled to exert and that peaceably, the most potential power in the political world within your grasp. So heed not to your destruc-

24 KEMEDY FOR EXISTING EVILS,

tion, though sorely oppressed, eulogies however numerous, however splendid, in favor of truth in the abstract, in prose or poetry, such as " The eternal years of God are hers; Though crushed to earth 'twill rise again," unless you are in your folly, madness, and infatuation prepared for self-sacrifice — follow -not the clamor of faction, the shout of fanaticism, if you do, you are doomed to fall. For while I do not agree . with Dr. Wayland as stated, and for reasons stated, I foresee, looking to the future as dependent upon existing causes, that there will be strikes, and the first of a formidable character, as matters now stand, will be between railroad companies and their employees. On behalf of their corporations when these conflicts occur, the government will interfere if needs be, with the strong arm of the military power under the pretense of law and order, life and . property. Other laborers will not unite with them, and these railroad laborers will be crushed out in detail, and if others did join, subsistence as well as men are necessary to achieve success ; and what could they do without bread, without mcney ? Thus defeated, the people might sink down in hopeless despondency. They would probably be disfranchised. And the people themselves, through terrible oppression, might be brought to place but a low estimate upon what our ancestors considered of inestimable value ; for what would political rights amount to, if they could not guaranty against starvation ?

Yet there is a danger of civil war as Dr. Wayland suggests, not only on account of the public oppression as he suggests ; but anon, on account of its invariable concomitant, the private injustice by which all the money and the wealth of the eountry is concentrating day by day, more and more, in the hands of the few, impoverishing still more the millions, and that too, through the abuse of the taxing power ; and preaenting a picture of avarice, of wealth, of ambition, groveling and meanly selfish, fearful to contemplate, because so well nigh impossible to resist. Such a state of things in all countries where the people have not been completely degraded and brutalized evokes sooner or later all the fiendish passions of our nature, and woe ! woe! ! to the land where these passions burst into a conflagration ; for then will

"Naked rebelliou with its torch and axe, Make its wild sport of our blazing homes till

Anarchy comes down on us like night, and Massacre us in our eternal graves."

It is in the midst of perils impossible to magnify, fortunate perhaps, that we can not, and if we could, perhaps it would not be wise to lift the veil that shrouds the future.

The extraordinary juncture at which we live demands not only all our wisdom and patriotism, but the guidance of the unseen hand directed by the divine wisdom. Very certain it is institutions hitherto, and at present existing, have become ejfM&, and that great and radical changes are demanded.

The remedy herein proposed would be a response to the demands thus created, could be readily applied, would impair no oil e's rights, would do no one injustice and would prove fully adequate to the ends designed. Yet the evils to be remedied have fastened upon the body-politic and social state or society, a disease of the most malignant and loathsome character, which has become so deeply rooted and wide spread, that it has imperiled the life of the nation. It has culminated in an indebtedness, public and private, almost universal and demands the most heroic treatment. There is to an honest pride of character, nothing more mortifying than debt. A man may be* lion-hearted, but debt muzzles the lion ; he may be eagle-eyed, but debt pinions the eagle to the dull earth, though there is a sky to soar in and a sun to gaze upon. It has destroyed the usefulness of the ablest and best of men ; when rivited upon a people, such is its tyranny, it never fails to consign them to a condition of utter and hopeless despondency — their minds become dwarfed, imbecile, idiotic insane, while their bodies become as putrid and festering as if fastened upon by the small-pox or leprosy , and strands them upon the bosom of the dead, dead sea of despotism where death lives and life dies. Such and so great are the calamities visited upon a people upon whom is rivited an universal indebtedness, through the abuse of the taxing power. Who can doubt that the words pronouncing "the love of money, the root of all evil,'' were inspired! And this presents the question, what is money? Money is the measure of values fixing the prices of all merchantable articles and exchangeable commodities, if it subserves its legitimate purpose, as dependent as nearly as possible upon the supply and demand of such articles and commodities. Such a measure should be sound and stable, and as fulfilling the required conditions to the best advantage the precious metals, gold and silver, by universal consent have been selected.