Who Pays For All?

Observer, Volume X, Issue 624, 13 December 1890, Page 14

Who Pays For All?

(By 'Desmond.')

Who clothes the plains with plenty, That gleam like golden aand ? Who earns the merchants' profitß ?— The tiller on the land. Who decks the halls of splendour, Where lords and ladies shine ? Who pays for gems and grandeur P— The toiler in the mine. Wk« builds the noble steamship, That plunges through the tide ? And carries wealth both near and far ?— The workman on the Clyde. Who builds the princely palace, Yet lives in scornful ban ? _ Who gilds each marble mansion ? — The ' low-born ' working man. Who weaves the finest fabrics, And for himself a shroud ? Who weaves the robea of pleasure, That deck the rich and proud ? Who rules the iron muscles That drag the rolling train ? # Who guides the engine's throbbing heart t The workman's hand and brain. Who tracks the pa+hless prairie, Or polar ice-field cold ? Who scales the bush clad mountains To Beeb the land of gold ? Whose names yet gem the story That tells of ocean war ? Who guards our world-wide commerce ? — The fearless British tar ! Behold the wealthy merchant, He lives in quiet ease ; Who brings him gold and treasure Across the roaring seas ? Who freely spends his life-blood And leads the battles' van Yet lured by craft and robbed by fraud ?— The toil-worn working man ! Who are the sad-eyed sowers Upon this vale of tears ? Who are those haughty mowers, That garner the golden ears ? And who exploiteth childhood (While angels of justice hide) ?— Who drink our heart's best life-blood ? — The Rich in their scornful pride. And who are the ghostly millions, With haunting faces wan ? The rich man's worn oat victims — ' The free born working man.' So over all the wide world The great devour the small And the workers are but bondmen Of earthly * lords of all.'