1893 - State Library Information Center

PART II.Social Development and the Functions ofBureaus of Labor Statistics.The constantly increasing power in the production of thenecessaries and conveniences of life during the past century hasbeen so prodigious, that the problem of the abolition of povertyis forcing itself upon us as one demanding a practical solution.The evidence of thin is seen in the ever-increasing number ofpeople, both as individuals and as organized societies, that arebeing brought into operations to hasten its realization.Innumerable have been the attempts made in the different agesof the world to improve the physical and mental position of man,and to elevate his moral condition. Each age has given itstribute of devotion to this general subject. Each century hascontributed its quota of fervent self-sacrifice to the cause, whichnumbers plebeians and patricians, kings and nations among itsmartyrs. One experiment succeeds another; never does humanityremain inactive. It advances through struggles, wars and revolutionstoward its future destiny, which is doubtless the slow butfinal organization of industry upon a scientific basis, and theultimate establishment of order and harmony in our social relations,wherein discord and disorder now prevail.The history of political economy is in reality but a summingup of the various experiments which have been made by civilizednations to improve the conditions of their people. And thosewho study the subject with assiduity will find that Athens, "Romeand Carthage each contained their army of paupers, causing asmuch concern to the rulers, and giving rise to questions equallyperplexing in the domain of political science, as the moderncities of Paris, Berlin, London, New York and others in theUnited States are now experiencing.(55)