THE following by Eugene B. Willard in the Boston Traveler shows how men of the world look upon the threatening conditions of the present day. It is evidently written from the standpoint of the laborer, voices his grievances, and shows the feeling that exists in the hearts of those for whom he speaks toward those whom he and they accuse:—
We can not disguise the fact that we are on the verge of an impending revolution. Old issues are dead. The muttering thunder of sullen discontent grows nearer and nearer every hour. The people are arraying themselves on one side or the other of a portentous contest. On one side is capital, formidably entrenched in privilege, arrogant from continued triumph, conservatively tenacious of old theories, demanding new concessions, enriched by domestic levy and foreign commerce, and struggling to adjust all values to its own gold standard. On the other side is labor asking for justice and employment, striving to develop domestic industries, battling with the forces of nature, and subduing the wilderness; labor, starving and sullen in the cities, resolutely determined to overthrow a system which gives to a few the possession of the natural bounties of the land, to monopolize them under cover of law and custom, a system which gives to a Gould and a Vanderbilt wealth beyond the dreams of avarice, and condemns the poor to poverty from which there is no escape or refuge but the grave. Demands for justice have been met with indifference and disdain. The laborers of the country are treated like impudent mendicants begging for bread. Men are equal, but there is no equality. Suffrage is universal, but political power is exerted by the few. Capital and wealth are favored, while the wage-earners are restrained. The burdens and privileges are unequally borne. Some have wealth beyond the capacity of extravagance to squander, and others pray in vain for daily bread.
Money is abundant; food is plentiful; our resources are gigantic; but, notwithstanding this, the paradox of civilization remains. The majority of the people struggle for existence, and a fraction subsists in abject and wretched penury. In calling attention to this subject it is not our intention to arouse a mere sensation or to seek to gratify idle curiosity; but it is a subject that can not be dismissed by turning on our heel and refusing to listen. The French people thought that once upon a time, but they learned differently, even if this present generation has forgotten the lesson. . . . We may ignore facts, but we can not alter them. There is no doubt that we are on the eve of a revolution. All who have eyes to see and ears to hear must admit this. Only a society submerged in egoism, self-satisfaction, and the hunt for pleasure can deny it; only such a society, together with those that claim divine rights, will continue to dance on the volcano, will refuse to see the "mene tekel" and continue to believe in the power of bayonets.