NOTES AND NOTIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 54, 2 July 1887, Page 3 (Supplement)

NOTES AND NOTIONS.

|BtJ s w z___^'» aJIM,OA °', . MAN-HIS WAOBS-HIS ScS G°v^_!!f- . uiinmy^tthatlwouldtrytoindi. 'r^thesocialcohditionsbhatmake other isms a vorf- Her jSPSfa" f ISSO she added For the toff eng°- \& m an hour »*r£iAM* SS buy up the half H m fi this moment', with all its mines of Europe this mom , ket andihanufector^anai debfc jnoney _*«£&£ fen. And now of yr >Jf*S__2_r'&'i>! this picture. Jefcuslookat the othersi on e..leventh of her popu _ the wealthiest counwy fee n-onem ? n in every rage^ls f o oo TbepbpnlationofLong e b g beiieVed *° X SqVnrkTs near. seven times thab ? thatKA_ surprise therefore, to hear Nearly a qSVof a million of the of New York are paupers. Kbooks itS^Btttar-Oty o/outcast guch boots <™ Ew the p OOI . Live,"giveus 10nl'Jof the state of existence in the some notion oi ra» ( Children of l^Sle veil from the London Sim n and shows Us how 250 000 of Eb clasTmanage to eke out an existence. f^ffrnttXfuntoll Thp Commissioner of the .e«.ea™ 0I eSSrlm thus describes a visit madver£l P5) aNew York tenement house. fconaer.sealittle. Boom, ten feeb square ; lowceiUng; only light, small begrimed Sow in the gable. Ten women and four S machines here. Sewing cloaks in this room in a temperature we 1 up m the -nineties." Scantily clad, unkempt hair; nale abject countenances, "they formed a mature I have never seen before, and hope never to see again. They were working as if driven by some unseen power. Style and quality.of the cloaks, the v.ry best. Lined with quilted satin, trimmed with sealskin or other expensive materials, finding ready sale in the shops at from 35d01. to 7odol. each. Two of these women could manage, by long hours and the most diligent application, to turn out one cloak a day, and the price they received from the contractor, or rate the 'sweater,' was Idol, i. c.. fifty cents', each;" The report closes by saying thlt hundreds of similar sights are to be i fo-hd in the city. "No words of mine ; could convey to the public any adequate 'conception of the truly awful condi- : tio'n of . thousands of these suffering i neople." this is the official report of a i Government inspector. It helps us to < believe Mr George, when he tells lis " that i there is a large class—l was about to say a i majority^-of the population of New York 1 and Brooklyn who just manage to live, and j to whom the rearing of two or more children ! means inevitably a boy for the Penitentiary 1 and a girl for.the brothel." . . 1 And now, how about the American work- 1 man? One .hears a good deal about his i position and his Wealth, etc. Well, let us ) heir what ah official document has to say 1 ab^ut him. It i_ one of the Wise provisions _ of'th'e _Mrican Government that it has i organised btureatrs.-of'Statistics throughout the States for the purpose of gathering re- i fiable information ragafding the social con- i tllfijnpfthe^eople;;, Oneof themo3b,com-' . plete of these is ___t Tin r Massachusetts.''"lt i is startling to learn, therefore, from the : Btatistics collected by this bureau, "that, i while-the average expenses of a working man's family is, in round numbers, .oidol., ; the average receipts of the heads of families ■ is only 558d01." la .other words, the expenditure exceeds the receipts by 196d01. ' And this in one of the most favoured States : in the Union", THb'wj then, does the family ; live? Clearly it can only live by forcing : the wife and to ruri .in com- 1 petition against bhe, husband aud fabher. i ''T__.y-.tffo, per cent. of. the support ] of' the family cbme_ from them:" The " workmen T Hears oh iill sides of the i wholly unparalleled wealth of his country. ' He looks,at himself,, he. find., that he is 1 steadily Rowing pdbr^r—that it is only by i the hard straggling of himself, and his wife i _ndc___rea-.tEathe .an, make bobh ends i meet. He studies bhe state of matters ; he 1 asks himself is bhere any prospecb of improvement?, He is led to conclude that bhe i present sylten. of -things' absolutely forbids 1 the hbpe. In "thVfirst place, the invention j of machinery is continually throwing him i out of employment, and this invention is ] going on at a rapid rate.: Theseiriventions i ,°S___!Sr_3iJ e > put money: in the pockets I of the workman. . The surplus goes to in- c crease the capitalisb's gains. Take an t ulustration. -.Sir, Lyon.Jlayfair told the t British Association in 1885 that science had succeeded in perfecting a process a of; Which in th_ single industry of the i manufacture of lucifer matches, L 26.000,000 r were saved to the hatibn. Very good; but t into.whose pockets did this money go? t Certaihiynbt into the pockets of the work- i People,- for ; the poor, girls who make these i matches are amongst the most wretchedly I paidintlfeUnitedKingdorii. -With their i Wag.!so.f,^ 6d a-week, they certainly do ( .oL a?. p,ear, to have reaped much of this i splifendid:: harvest of L2_,00d,000, which J wtoce hai.been able to save to the con- 1 sataers. ; What: is t rue,pf bhis industry is 1 ™ pothers, I belief Rodbertus 1 aroetfakes to show "that the increased 1 production of machine power has bene- 3 Sta.[ 3 ts» y:and entirblyr landlords.and t BiS'i^.^* ™ *° be remembered . S»S • Plloa. lon 0f m^hinery leads to oHr tlon °f. work' »a specialisation maS^ n V^dnees a , stunted gnhpod. Fancy; e W .,a_ikhpointingpinsail &__«■_ - 01' Ta^ mmS a small bar of iron and iJs™ lan1 an ever-ravenous machine, Z^t" for a life! W »i stll] *°rse i-esult is produced. Bmalnn gV. c y?rkmah came ifito per- r ThuVZ i -.""S, without a conscience. ] emJov Pf i;=cI a- 10nS b?^ ween employer and t £ffiL.fr B £ pMUy tra^formedinto . °l h aM ke^ sweet the l I«SlfrDth^ .All over America '. «mmnifT?i 1-dIS^ peariil«- Vnge a m SiiS- place. These ( TO»rim-rii e.,P °oUhe?" lnterests with "ii t wB'mWW companies, prtffiSt'iflp fe marl.etc. Thus, the J WatS *¥$® a Committee of the ? SSoTctl^ k! n Part in a com! *«> m*&s&*m o cure the evil of Vwef. mJlt f *_ kefc ' stated that t fci' ade3 thafc did tho KiHhS a"i m P^entihg ib this [ b^for our vSrli. Very po^nd of r°Pe we th« cornSf eJ f or ourmine S is fixed by c tt?«Sg» nianufacturers of °m screw, -_-,es!,.^ ery Heg of nails, all . kSL?^ and hinges- r on tara S P'l °USes - fire-bricks,gas-pines . Pri<:e fixed WtT^^y-^^^gbt at the . them^^M-femills that manufacture \ l««- __. 1 1? obedience to what is J

I fl bhe "iron law of wages." men are ■ (iclled tc work ten or twelve hours g, and frequently bheir wives and chil- ._| work also; yeb ib is computed thab ;' j.rybody did his duty, wibh the labouri sff power which machinery has intro--3> three hours a-day of work would e _! everybody to live respectably, and s purs would produce three times tho , _nib of wealbh bhab is required for com- ; -fo!(2) It is contended that the present ' gotmd political condition of tilings are so fnin bhe inberesbof capital that a dollar atipound interest for sevenby years will pi^e as much as a workman slaving for • fc nf .ei'eriod." (3) The American Sbabe . .^system, 0 f she is so justly p_(j is turning oub bho children of the 0 -rAro£C"classes with new tastes, new aspiratioflOW capacities of every kind. To . j nC . capacity musb be to increase wants, and' yo"nger generation growing up can gjvd) satisfaction with a society in ', lV^i(l-hese wants find ho fulfilment. • There taught in schools literature, , sc jgi art, music, and 'ologios of all , kindbut the children of workpeople i read, leaving school, that the society' whic)kes such care to develop their capat? while young, is so arranged as to stan'iem when they are older. It is a' life.aieath struggle for bread, leaving no time .tivate those tasteswliich theirearly' educa fostered. To feed these wants, thus 7 created, requires some leisure from.fl of drudgery. But no such leisure is pos& Carefully nurtured for a while, it is' 1 afterwards to bo mocked, and fi na .ly)roduce desperate despair. (4) A newsc' of political economy .is rising, which 'hes bhe workman bhab labour is som.ti.moro than a commodity, to be boughtd sold like corn or hogs. It teacbe'surther, thab bhe produce of lahovir?ititutes bhe natural wages or recompSßf labour—that in this original state pings which precedes both the appropipn 0 f land and the accumulation of stock; whole pvoclu.ee of labour belongs to the larers. Had this stabe of things contihufwnges would have augmented with iin/ements. Bub from a variety; of causes labourer lost possession of bhe insbrum< of wealbh ; he was, in facb, robbed oem by sbronger powers, and he has gonesinking in the social scale since. Thus tha'kman is baughb bo believe bhab he is therce of .wealbh. bub bhab while he is adr bo bhe counbry's riches ab a rate,jlly unprecedented in the history he himself, Who is the produceriiis wealth, is steadily growing poorer. |§ the conditions of society are such as TOvent him from sharing in the wealth h's creating. Now rehearse bhings likhese wibh all bho resources of oraboric&y to crowds of Wdrkm'en— ill-fed, iUised, ill-clobhed, and ofben unemploye poinb bhem bo bheir own poverty;fir bhem by passionabe logic bhab th'ey;ve been emploited of that which rigllly belongs to them ; show them thelites of the capitalists and the sumptuous, of the millionaires, and you willsooid yourself standing on the brink of aVoano. no longer latent and slumbering.hat is where America seenis to me to b_.iy. The capitalist takes his stand cofdbn the law of political economy, sm teaches that labour is nothing- mobhan a commodity, to be manipulatecVte iron or coal, and has behind himie force and power of government|i soldiers. On the other side stancphe Wage-worker, embittered Byhe sense of real or fancied wi.H^ving translated to him, in fiery rhetoric^ .principles of Proudhon and Blanc an<arl Slarx, and demanding now neitherfifcy nor charity, but only fair play ahaHice. It needs no great provision toflfree thab collisions musb bake place. jLted and scabbcred bhoy will be afc-firs|^l the prolebariab will certainly be wors.for the time being ; bub bhe oreranisatibi the labouring classes in America is .^eding wibh marvellous rapidiby. Th&ijseh'b sbabe of thing 3is intolerable. Itannot lasb. The "only question is, ( W4form is bhe. solution to take ? Is ib bo';beace or war ? Is ib bo be an evolution oft.Svolution ? Many years ago, Ferdinandi|salle, bhe eloquenb interpreter of Kajiai'x to the workers of the world, wrote* I am persuaded that a revolution rjlace. It -will take place legally, Tffititfi all the blessings of freedom, if befoi. be too late our rulers become wise, defined, and courageous enough bo lead?! Otherwise, after the lapse of certoiff'V, the Goddess of Revolution will fcff_n entrance into our social structure afiall the convulsions of violence with w__treaming locks and brazen sandalsb'nlfeeb. In ono way or the other she willyie : and when; forgetting the tumult day, I sink myself in history, I am at to hear from afar her heavy tread."

The labour ofg_ations of America number to-day miUi pf men. They are being educabed __ drilled. All Oyer America I foundpfeati'oris going on for the struggle thabTfybody feels is approaching, because-is'in "America that bhis struggle willjj take place. The ballot quieted for a|| the English /democracy, and the abq.__ 0 f the Lords and then of Royalty wijerhaps keep it in temper a' libble IpHj; an d, a Republic would possibly acf. sop bo bhe German workman. Bub in 7 bhere are no more concessions 6i __ kind to be rriade. These sbages are pas,. They liave been tried, and have not >ked the regeneration hoped for. Rggenbative government has broken doWS The commerce is ruled by "pools," lifepal government by " rings," arid Cong, itself is libble less than a " boss ring "6. bigo-'er scale. A Committee of the Lecture recently reported, that bo bill co[ p ags the House without Varfderbilt a#| e a 0 f ft. America has thus no more politl rights to give to her people. .They has_ e ballot. They have manhood suffrageihey have their Republic. What is jb^ beyond these? Nothing bub Socialism;^ Anarchy. The hexb evolution of goverr. n t w ill be alone lines iri one or other o^ e directions.