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Ahd Tun^tv-Mattmon grin# on pile of childrens' bones,Ta it peace or war? better war! loud war byland and by sea.War with a thousand battles, and shaking a hundred thrones.For I trust if an enemy’s fleet came yonder round by the hill,And . the rushing bittle-bolt sang from the th®ee-decker ott| of the foam,That theamooth-faoed snub-nosed rogue wouldleap from hi* counter and till,- «•And strike, if he oould, were it but with hischeating yard wand, home.Nor was Herbert Spencer romancing when he wrote:“it has been said that the law of the animai creation iB ’Eat and be eaten; ” and of our trading community it may be similarly said thatits law is—Cheat and be cheated. A system of keen competition, carried on, as it is, without adequate moral restraint, is very much a system of commercial cannibalism. Its alternatives are—Use the same weapons as your antagonists, or be conquered and devoured. ”“On all sides we have met with the same conviction, that for those engaged in the ordinary trades, there are but two courses—either to adopt the practices of their competitors, or give up business. Hen in different occupations and n different places, men naturally conscientious, who manifestly chafed under the degradations they submitted to, have one and all expressed to us the sad belief that it is impossible to carry on trade with strict rectitude. Their concurrent opinion, independently given, is that the scrupulously honest man must go to the wall.Nor is the testimony in favor of Cooperative industry as a full remedy for these enormous evils either slight in amount or weak in force. It doesnot deserve the stupid neglect of good men or the contemptuous sneer of theselfish and proud.gitimate and unavoidable effects of these reductions 'upon the business prosperity of the country,. we apprehend that the operators would receive some pretty strong hints frOm other classes than the miners. Perhaps the time has not yet come for all classes to unite to protect each other from oppression, but the time is near at hand when they will understand that this is the only manner inwhich the producing and business interests of the country can be protected from the wrongs imposed by igno-| ranee and greed.—Western Advance.cate.Not only are the laborers taxed for their own existence, but they have to pay for all the births, all the food,all the clothes, all the houses, all thepleasures, and all the pains of thosewho do not word. The laborer’s wife, who has to deal out the bread an$ butter in such scanty portions to her half-starved children, little thinks the prancing steed on which the mistressof some money lord sits, is fed on the best of provender which ought to be on her own table in the form of bread and beef to satisfy the hungerof her little ones. National andState taxes, the taxes on distribution, on real estate, all come out o£ labor. In war the workers have to fight and die. In peace they have to toil and die. All the time they have to pay,but are never paid themselves.—Labor Standard.SOVEREIGNS OF INDUSTRY.The third annual session of the National Council of this body was recently held at Syracuse, N. Y. The meeting seems to have been encouraging and useful, in a high degree. Pres. Earle made an address distinguished for good sense snd directness of aim, from which we make some extracts.Brothers and Sisters of the National Council Sovereigns of industry:I have much pleasure in welcoming you to this our third annual session. In these times of continued national depression, enforced idleness, and commercial disaster, we have assembled as the representatives of an organization that is seeking a remedy for these evils. With earnest hearts, willing hands, and determined heads, let us enter upon the responsibilities and duties of this hour. Thoughtful men everywhere are beginning to ponder very seriously the grave question of the relations between employer and employed, now coming up for re-adjustment. Shall the solution be a conflict between capital and labor, each striving to secure all it can for itself, with no higher aims? Then terrible indeed will be thr conflict, monstrous the wrong. This order was established to point out, if possible, an equiuble adjustment of these relations. Another year of labor and experience in our councils has only added new fervor and strength to my convictions that in the application of the principles of our order lies the hope of a just and peaceful solution ofthe problem of capital and labor.%To me it is Christian work in which we can conscientiously ask heaven to bless us. Have we the spirit of organization; the resolution to meet difficulties; the courage of self-control, through which alone great movements are made and great reforms are led? Strong convictions precede great actions. He who believes, is strong; he who doubts, is weak. Clear, deep, living convictions rule the world. The only faith which really saves us, is that which enables us to save others.How shall the production, distribution and consumption of wealth be fully shared by all ? No more important questions are to-day pressing upon the American mind for a solution* The power and hope of our organization lies in its ability harmonize and concentrate individual efforts for the accomplishments of these results. ”“Out of the number of councils reporting I■have selected 94 councils, having a membersihp of 7,273, that with an average capital of only$884, did a businees last year of $1,089,372.55.at an average saving to the membei s of 14 per cent, or a profit of $152,512, equal to a saving of $21.00 to every man and women belonging to those councils. If we reckon the initiation fee at $2.00, (and for women it is only $1.00, and we notice that there are 2,812 women already reported as members) and the annual dues $2.00 which is a large estimate, we have the net benefit to each member above reported to be $17.00 for the year. It is safe to assume that the unreported would make a saving of $420,000. Again, the returns show that the average capi tal of each store ($884.00) has been “turned over* once in twenty-three days during the whole year. Our co-operative store at Woeces-ter, Mass., turned over its capital twenty-five times the past year, or once about twelve dayB.Pomeroy’s Democrat last week contained an able article on the Braid-wood strike. While disapproving of strikes in general terms, it admits that in this case they deserve success, and quotes an extract from the Advance, (credited, however, to the Joliet Phoenix,) presenting the idea that in the present “juncture in our industrial affairs, business men, merchants, farmers, and others have almost as much interest in the success of the strike as the miners themselves have. ” This is a feature of the question which the press of the country ought to keep prominently to the front. At a time like this, whenthe remuneration paid to labor is notsufficient to afford a comfortable subsistence, every reduction of wages is a blow aimed directly at the prosperity of all other classes of come munity. In this Braidwood cas-these coal operators have made a direct attaek upon the mercantile in -terest of the city by their attempt to reduce the miners below living wages, and if all classes understood the le-WANTED.Juft now the post of great American humorist is vacant, and the field of comic writing may be said to be unoccupied. All the prominent laugh-raisers of the land, who were formerly in turn king-bees in thehive, have just now retired into the back-ground and our people awaitthe coming man. Bret Harte andMark Twain fell into the rear long ago, before the victorious advance of the Banbury News Man and the Burlington Hawkeye Man, with their grand army of imitators, and now the new order of things humorous has ceased to charm the capricious puplic,and the people of the United States are actually without an authorized and accepted jester.And just here we would say that there is no post in our native literary world more diffucult to hold than that same post of popular humorist, for in the matter of comic writing the tastes of our people vary like the wind, and he who is crowned king offun to-day, to-morrow may be universally considered but a “barren fool.”In fact, of all our famous native humorists, from poor Doesticks, to the Burlington Hawkeye man, only one retained his prestige until death claimed him, and it is scarcely necessary to say that that individual wasthe lamented Artemus Ward, he of the champion “wax figgers.” Whether even he would have kept his popularity unscathed to the present hour, had he lived, is a problem that cannot now be solved, but it is onlv fair to presume from analogy that he would have gone the way of all the rest of the overlooked humorists.Who will be the coming man, among the many aspirants for the vacant throne, of course, cannot now be predicted, for it would seem as if a new school of humorous writing would have to be established before the succession can finally be determined. But of this we are certain: the new American humorist, in whatever branch of fun he may shine out, will have to be a man of nerve, and one not liable to be utterly “crushed” when, as must inevitably happen, he is replaced by a fresher idol. Unlessthe aspirant lias these qualifications, we would advise him not to attempt to gain the vacant throne of the star comic writer of this republic.—TheSaturday Evening Post.A HIGHER MORALITY.That this is pre-eminently an ageof thought and investigation none will deny. Old forms are passing away. Progress in the arts and sciences demands social, political and moral progress to harmonize the race with their changed conditions. A few years ago slavery was defended from the pulpit as a Divine institution. A higher morality came with the anti-slavery movement, and slavery is no more. To-day usury, in all its multifarious forms, has eaten up the substance of the people, and driven millions into poverty and destitution, and filled our almshouses and our prisons with its hopeless victims. By the skill of the laborer machinery takes the place of personal effort, and the laborer is turned out to tramp or starve. When thus forced to tramp, laws are enacted, making him a criminal, and imposing heavy penalties upon him. To meet this giant wrong of robbing labor of th means of subsistence, the labor movement comes, preaching a higher morality than has hitherto obtained among men. The anti-slavery movement asserted the inalienable right of all men to personal liberty. The labor movement takes another step forward, and asserts the right of all men to the products of their labor, undiminished by usury. Of course it is understood that, under all circumstances, the product will have to pay all necessary expenses cf transportation and superintendence, but no more.Under this higher morality, the richman will reason thus: W hat have Idone before I was born, to fall heir to a larg6 fortune, to be rewarded a thousand fold for all that I do, receive ail the advantages of educa-
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Minneapolis Free Flag
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
Thu, May 17, 1877
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