Labour's Wrongs and Labour's Remedy

PREFACE,Whenever :my crisis in tl~c affiri1.s of lnen is about totdte place, there is ever to be found a nl~nlber of peopleready to preach up things as they arc. Tltese championsfight sto~~tly and cu~~ilingly against the innorntion ofexisting institutions anrl 111odrs of acting; and theyendeavour to reason the sensible and aI;tr~n the timidinto remaining qniet, and enduring ~neeklp mhntever evilsthey may be atilicted ~ritl~. Relonging to one class, anrlhaving in view a common ol~ject, these alarmists attemptto convince tl~e people that everything is almost as well asit call be-that few evils are endured by them which arenot necessary consequences of existence-that theirgovernmental burthens may be alleriated by gradual andimperceptible reforms-th~t the present gradations ofsociety, which cause so nlucll discontcntn~eut among thepoor and the oppressed, have always existed, and tl~ereforeever must exist-and that any attenlpts of the productiveclasses to better tliemselves by interfering with this"natural arrangement of society," mill be attended \viththe most disastrous ~.esults to tl~un~selves.Notwithstanding the sage aclvice and the gloomy forebodingsof tl~ese friends of the people, the latter areperpetually endesvouring to the ut~nost of tl~eir power, bymeans of political and trades' unions, to alter the presentstate of things, and keep to the~nsclves that vast amountof wealth which is annually taken from tl~c~n by esistillgusages. But, conscious of ]laving justice on their side, theproductive classes have hitl~erto regarded the end more