The Labor Problem

John l'.urns, the great labor leader of England, and meniber of païliament, who Is on a vsit to this country, says oï hie woirk : "I axn wotkivg," saM Mr. Burns, "for tJie weU-being and welfare of iln' workins" classeöj ior the!r impiovfinent. T3iere are 8,000,000 of ■vvurkers in (rc-il l'.ritain, all oï whom nw. oAxrworked. ïhey gei no tiime to live decently and sivc proper time to tlieir Avives and families. "Witli tliem it is all work. This comlition creates the army of unemployod. At least 1,000,000 without wnires, without p-urch&Bing power. This milliom worker.s liavc oier 3,000,000 others depemdent upon tliem. We hav' i'ound that in every trade whore the eig'ht-hour law has been eonforeed employment lias been found tor llie anemployed, while those who work have lost nothing. As a rule it comes out of the pirofits, and lias possibly tncreased tiie cost of the service." And this : "The standard of comfort of the mechante workVng üfty-four hours is higher than the tram-men work:ng uinety and one hundred. What is the reaeon ? Simply th!s : Leisure is the ibae'a of opportunity. Time to think cultívate new desires. To leail, a mai's lite begets a desire for new ways of satisfying them, henee a stimulus to trade. These faculties are Öonmamt m the man who works lomg liours. A man has no right to be satlsfied with a dog's lite, a dos' kennel to live in, and the anneMhetic chambei' of poverty in wbich to tenninato his existence." In speakmg Of how the idle should be employed ïie said : "I believ othat the eheapest, best and safest way of all to prevent the idle man, tlie poteaitial loafer, pauper or iriminal, from beiixg a burdenisito p-rovlde liimwith work whlch will be Li'! salvation iind the comniunity's gam.' " And this at a coat to the state ?' " 'WJiy not ? The state must ultimately take care of him. AVhy not bj' exerois'.ng" a little care, make a man oí him ? Disgtiise it how we will, hijde it tho'Ugh we may, looming up in the great, the all-abaorbing question for all countrice and governmeaits, in 5'or country, my American [rJend, s much as ino ur country to face, how can the honest worker be provided ulth work uncontaminated witli pauperism's degrading takit und charity's demcraliz jig aid ? Tlie güb quotation of figures showing that official jiaupea'ism has decreased omly insults tlie g-emuiiie woi-ker who asks for work so that Ct may be reduced furthr still. Dut tjveui the official statisticSj when liliora of all thelr complacent optim:s-m, l-eveal tlie real nature of the problem.' " Speakimg of tlie red flag of anarchy, Mr. liurns remarked : ''If a revolution should occur tomorrow, and the red ílag come out triumpliant and a Frenen revolution be iuauyurated, whose lieads would fajl into tlie basket? Not the Goulds' and the Carnegies' and the Astors'. Oh, no ! Much more likely the g-uillotln would be employed on the necks of the labor leaders ibhcmselves, the Burts, the Burases, the Powderlys, the Arthurg. If the power of goich a change under exist:.iig comditions were absolutely vested in me, I would rather cut off this hand than take advantage. We are rigtot in iighting to impi-ove the condltion of tliose who toil in seeking a more equltable distributioii of wealth. Il nat, we shall briag about our neoks a tyranny woree than was ever drcamed possible, and destroy all hope tor the uliimate amel'oratiom of lalxr.'" President Cleveland touches with gentleness upon the right of tlie Turkish government to maltreat Armenians who have become American citizens without her consent. But uot one word about the horrible massacre of Christians in that country in September last. Can it be possible? Was not that event, wherein thousands of Christian men were slaughtered, and thousands of Christian wouien maltreated and then butchered, of sufficient importance to cali forth a protest even, in the name of common humanity? Is the Turkish t'overntnent not to be called to an account for this horrible and bloody Work? Of the 228,000 immigrante that came to this country during the year ending July lst '94, all but 12,000 of lliem settled in the northern states. Why do they shun the sonth? The reason is easily told. It all springs trom political intolerance and from the contempt for honest labor which still survives, in Borne degree, from slavery days. By reason of these twin follies men who want to be free and happy while they make their way in the world are led to seek homes almost anywhere else than ia southern states which might be so rich in all that draws brain and rnuscle and capital.