Labour's Wrongs and Labour's Remedy

42 LABOUR'S WRONGS ANDsociety is a state presenting an uninterrupted succession ofadvantages for. all its members."-it has been to make society what it is here representedto be--"an uninterrupted succession of advantages farALL its members"-that the efforts of the truly greatand gmd in all ages have been directed. Society is notthus universally advantageous to all within its p.1 rt e, norhas it ever yet been so. Ask the producers of wea:th-thedespised, the toil-worn, tlie oppressed working men, ofany age or any nation,-if society was ever for them an" uninterrupted succession of advantages." Could theirvoices arise from the grave--could they tell us tlie sickeningtale of their wrongs and their miseries-how ~vi!dwould be their wailings !-how terrible their imprew,tions! But even were liistory silent as to their fate,experience is a perpetual remembrancer to the men of thepresent day; and they cannot change their situation for abetter one, nor wilI they ever have a proper hold uponsociety, until First Principles are universally acted uponuntiIwe attend to those conditions which the politicaleconomists themselves have confessed to be "necessary forthe production of Utility, or of what is essential to thesupport, comfort, and pleasure of human life ;"-and theseconditions are :-" 1. That there shall Ae labour." 2. That there shall be accumulations offormer labour,or capitol."3. That there sAall be exchanges."These three conditions, be it remembered, are those laiddown by the economists. There is no reservation madenodistinction of any particular persons or classes withrespect to whom these conditions shall or shall not havereference. They are applied to society at large, and,from their nature, cannat exempt any individual or anyclass from their operation. We must, therefore, take tIieconditions as they are, and apply them, with their advantngesand their disadvantages, to all alike.IIad these conditions been fulfilled by men, as theyought to I~ave been, there would now be no occasion forforming associations to obtain political rights, or trades'unions to protect the employed from the n~erciless exactionsof the employers. But these conditions have bee11neglected, or only partially observed, and the present con-&tion of tlie working man and society at large is tlie consequence,Prom our habits and prejurlices, it is dificoltto discover truths or First Principles, but it is still moredifficult to apply these principles properly, or even to conceivethat they may be acted upon. First Principles arealways general in their application-not partial. Thel ~ ~ iTIIOU - ~ SEIALT LABOUR"--rests alike on all createdbeings. To this great law, from the mirn~test animalculein a drop of water, to the most stupendous whale whichdives beneath the waves of ocean, t!~ere are naturally, andthere shoulil be artificially, no exceptions. Man orlly canescape this law ; and, from its nature, it can be evade 1 byone man only at the expense of another. The litw itselfis never destroyecl or ;ibrogatctl-it liaturally and perpetuallypresses eqr~ally upon all men-upon the capitalist aswell as the worlting man-arid if one mati or one classescape its pressure, the slim total of its force ill bearup some other nian or class. It is as :ibsol~lte conditiolr ofexistence " that there shall be labour."The word " Labour," with most men, has unpleasantideas associated with it. To marly, it signifies raggedness,or ignorance, or degradation-aclli~rg bones, mental andbodily lassitude, a gn:i\rirrg dissatisfaction wit11 every thingarounci them, and ;t, h:tlf-\r-earincss of life. To destroy theinexplicable feelings ~vlrich excessive labour thus creates,the over-wrought ~vorking Inan wants, and he must have,some mental or botlily restorative to supply this waste ofvital energy. But the present institutions of society offerh h nothing of tlie kind, Tliere is nothing around biln toraise up 111s ~,rostmteci soul, and enlarge and purify thenoble germ within him ; for everytiling he hears 2nd sees2nd feels, tends to enforce lipon him a sense of inferiorityand abasement. No wonder t11:tt his manlrood droops and\vitllcrs-thnt he seelis for the momentary relaxation:rfforcled by deb:~ucher~-tll;t,t he soon loses even the desireto improve liis very few llours of leisure, and becomes contentto plod through life, not as a man, but as :In animaleating,drinl