The Trades-Union from Atchison, Kansas • 1

ft "AN INJURY TO ONE IS THE CONCERN OF VOL. II. ATCHISON, KANSAS, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1886. NO. 8.

THE TRADES-UNION desires that we might all have so much THE TRADES-UNION. HENRY GEORGE comment from the Southern press. Mr. Powerly tells the members of the order to hold fast to that which is true and right. The triumph of noise over reason is but transient.

Onr principles will be better known if not to-day they may to-morrow. They can bide their time and will some time have the world for an audience, and in the field of labor and American citizenship we recognize no line of race, creed, politics or color. The demagogue may distort for a purpose the words of others, and for a time the noise of the vocal boss may silence reason, but thst which is right aad true will become known when the former has passed to rest and the sound of the latter's voice has forever died away. Then it will be known that the intelligent educated man is better qualified to discern the difference between right and privilege, and the unwritten law of social equality will be more rigidly observed tli an it is to-day. United States Circuit Judge Brown, sitting at Detroit, has just handed down a decision sustaining the constitutionality of the federal law forbiding the importation of laborers under contract into the United States.

The court held that it is within the power of Congress to inhibit the immigration of any class of persons who I .1 ergy that we might utilize goes to waste; resources that we might draw upon are Yet men are delving and straining to satisfy mere animal wants; women are working-, working, working their lives away, and too frequently turning in despair from that hard struggle to cast away all that makes the charm of woman. If the animals can reason what must they think of us? Look at one of those great ocean steamers plowing her way across the Atlantic, against wind, against wave, absolutely setting at defiance the utmost power of the elements. If the gulls that hover over her were thinking beings could they imagine that the animal that could create such a structure as that could actually want for enough to eat? Yet, so it is. How many even of those of us who find life easiest are there who really live a rational life? Think of it, you who believe that there is only one life for man what a fool at the very best is a man to pass- his life in the struggle to merely live? And you who believe, as I believe, that this is not the last of man, that this is a life that opens bnt another life, think how nine-tenths, aye, I do not know but ninety-nine-hundreths of all vital powers are spent in a mere effort to get a living; or to heap together that which the human brain was intended and the human heart was made? Look at the factories scattered through our country. They are little better than penitentiaries.

I read in the New York papers a while ago that the girls at the Yonkers factories had struck. The papers said the girls did not seem to know why they had struck, and intimated that it must be just for the fun of striking. Then came out the girls' side of the story and it appeared that they had struck against the rules in force. They were fined if they spoke to one another, and they were fined still more heavily if they laughed. There was a heavy fine for being a minute late.

I visited a lady in Philadelphia who had been a forewoman in various factories, and I asked her, "Is it possible such rules are enforced?" She said it was so in Philadelphia. There is a fine for speak Two or three weeks ago, I went one Sunday evening to the church of a famous Brooklyn preacher. Mr. Sankey was singing and something like a revival was going on there. The clergyman told some anecdotes connected with the revival, and recounted some of the reasons why men failed to become Christians.

He said that he had noticed on the outskirts of the congregation, night after night, a man who listened intently and who gradually moved forward. One night, the clergyman said, he went to him and said: "My brother, are you not ready to become a Christian?" The man said, no, he was not. He said it, not in a defiant tone, but in a sorrowful tone; the clergyman asked him why, whether he did not believe in the truths he had been hearing 1 Yes, he believed them alL Why, then, wouldn't he become a Christian? "WelL" he said, "I can't join the church without giving up my business; and it is necessary for the support of my wife and children. If I give that up, I don't know how in the world I can get along. I had a hard time before I found my present business, and I cannot afford to give it up.

Yet I can't become a Christian without giving it up," The clergyman asked, "are you a rum-seller?" No, he was not a rum-seller. Well, the clergyman said, he didn't know what in the world the man could be; it seemed to him that a rum-seller was the only man who does a business that would prevent his becoming a Christian, and he finally said: "What is your business?" The man said, "I sell soap?" "Soap!" exclaimed the clergyman, "you sell soap? How in the world does that prevent your becoming a Christian?" "Well," the man said, "it is this way; the soap I sell is one of these patent soaps that are extensively advertised as ena5hng you to clean clothes very quickly, as containing no deleterious compound whatever. Every cake of the soap I sell is wrapped in a paper on which is printed a statement that it contains no injurious chemicals, whereas the truth of the matter is that it does, and that though it will take the dirt out of clothes pretty quickly, it will, in a little while, rot them completely out. 1 have to make my living in this way; and I cannot feel that I can become a Christian if I sell that soap." The minister went on, describing how he of the material things we now struggle for, that no one would want to rob or swindle his neighbor that no one would worry all day, or lie awake at night, fear ing he might be Drought to poverty, or thinking how he might acquire wealth. Social Problems, p.

219. LABOR THE BASIS OF PROPERTY. What constitutes the rightful basis of property What is it that enables a man to justly say of a thing, "It is mine From what springs the sentiment which acknowledges his exclusive right as against all the world Is it not, primarily, the right of a man to himself, to the use of his own powers, to the enjoyment of the ruits of his own exertions Is it not this individual right, which springs from and is testified to by the natural facts of individual organization the fact that each particular pair of hands obey a particular brain and are related to a particular stomach the fact each man is a definite, coherent, independent whole which alone justifies individual ownership As a man belongs to himself, so his labor, when put in concrete form, belongs to him. And for this reason, that which a man makes or produces is his own, as against all the world to enjoy or to destroy, to use, to exchange or to give. No one else can rightfully claim it, and his exclusive right to it involves no wrong to any one else.

Progress and Poverty, p. 244. AN INIQUITOUS LAW. -Place, stripped of clothes, a landown er's baby among a dozen workhouse ba bies, and who that you call in can tell the one from the others Is the human law which declares the one -00111 to the possession of a hundred thousand acres of land, while the others have no right to a single square inch, conformable to the intent of Nature or not Is it judged by this appeal, natural or unnatural, wise or foolish, righteous or iniquitous Property in Land, p. 55.

ROBBERY. As to what constitutes robbery, it is, we will both agree, the taking or withholding from another of that which rightfully belongs to him. That which rightfully belongs to him, be it observed, not that which legally belongs to him. As to what axtent human law may create rights is beside this discussion, for what I propose is to change, not to violate human law. Property in Land.

ONE SOURCE FOR WEALTH. Nature gives wealth to labor, and to nothing but labor. There is, and there can be, no article of wealth but such as labor has got by making it, or searching for it, out of the raw material which the Creator has given us to draw from. If there were but one mon in the world it is manifest that he could have no more wealth than he was able to make and to save. This is the natural order.

And, io matter how great, be -ihe population, or how elaborate the society, no one can have more wealth than he produces and saves, unless he gets it as a free gift from some one else, or by appropriating the earnings of some one else. Social Prob lems, p. 93. AN AMERICAN PRINCIPLE. "By this sign shall ye conquer "We hold these truths to be self-evi dent That all men we created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness The Land Question, p.

v. AN ADDRESS BY HENRY GEORGE. aoies and Gentlemen: I propose to talk to you of the Crime of Poverty. I cannot, in a short time, hope to convinoe you of much; but the thing of things I should like to show you is that poverty is a crime. I do not mean that it is a crime to be poor.

Murder is a crime; but it is not a crime to be murdered; and a man who is in poverty, I look upon, not as a criminal in himself, so much as the victim of a crime for which others, as well per haps as himself, are responsible. That poverty is a curse, the bitterest of curses, we all know. Carlyle was right when he said that the hell of which Englishmen are most afraid is the hell of poverty; and this is true, not of Englishmen alone, but of people all over the civilized world; no matter what their nationality. It is to escape this hell that we strive and strain and struggle; and work on often times in blind habit long after the necessity for work is gone. The curse bora of poverty is not confined to the poor alone; it runs through all classes, even to the very rich.

They, too, suffer; they must suffer; for there cannot be suffering in a community from which any class can totally escape. The vice, the crime, the ignorance, the meanness, born of proverty, poison, so to speak, the very air which rich and poor alike must breathe. Poverty is the mother of ignorance, the breeder of crime. I walked down the street this morning, and I saw three men going along with their hands chained together. I knew for certain that those men were not rich men; and, although 1 do not know the offense for which they were carried in chains, this I think 1 can safely say, that, if you trace it up ou will find it in some way to spring from poverty.

Nine-tenths of human misery, I think you will find, if you look, to be due to poverty, if a man chooses to be poor, he commits no crime in being poor, provided his poverty hurts no one but himself. If a man has others dependent upon him; if there are a wife and children whom it is his duty to support, then, if he voluntarily chooses poverty, it is a crime aye, and I think that, in most cases, the men who have no one to support but themselves are men who are shrinking their duty. A woman comes into the world, for every man; and for every man who lives a single life, caring only for himself, there is some woman who is a deprived of her natural supporter. But while a man who chooses to be poor cannot be charged with crime, it is certainly a crime to force poverty upon others. And it seems to me clear that the great majority of those who suffer from poverty are poor not from their own particular faults, but because of conditions imposed by society at la-ge.

Therefore I hold that poverty is a crime, a crime for which we alL poor as well aa rich, are responsible. JAS. W. REILLY, Manager. OFFICIAL PAPER OF THE KANSAS STATE ASSEMBLY KNIGHTS OF LABOR.

8, W. W. 8. Andkbson, Atchison. 8.

W. F-8. Wkateb, Hiawatha. 8. R.

B. J. St. Clair, Atchison. B.

F. S. H. M. Ivb, Topeka.

8. T. W. E. Hxth debsow, Topeka.

8. 8 C. A. Henbie, Topeka. 8.

A. Richard T. Webster, Eureka. EXECUTTTE BOARD. W.

H. Wbioht, Concordia. Cbas. Schmidt, Winfield. W.

8. Knot, Topoka. R. M. Steele, Troy.

J. Q. Mocks aus, Topeka. W. 8.

Anderson, Atchison. R. J.St. Claib. Atchison.

W. 8. Anderson, State Organizer, Atchison. One copy, one year, in advance, $1 00 Jao copy, 8ix months. 50 One copy, three months, 25 Remittance should be made by post office order, powtal note, registered letter or draft.

Entered at the postofhce at Atchison as second class matter. 621 Commercial Street, Atchison, Kansas. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1886. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. A Bine pencil mark as an across this paragraph is a notification that your subscription has expired, and that yon are respectfully asked to remew it and get one or more persons to subscribe therefor at once.

JESSE PIOOOTT Is an independent candidate for Representative in the Kansas Legislature from the Third district, composed of all that part of Atchison county outside of the city of Atchison. He is a native of Jefferson county, Ohio, about 45 years of age, and has been a citizen of Kansas eight years, the first few years in Osage and the remainder of the time in Atchison county. lie is a substantial farmer of Be ton township, a man of intelligence, good general information, and a speaker on financial and economic questions of more than ordinary ability. In 1868 he was a delegate to the National convention that nominated General Weaver for the Presidency, and the same year was the candidate of the National party for the State Senate in Atchison county, but was unable to give the canvass his personal attention. Twice since he has been a resident of Kansas the honor of a Congressional nomination has been tendered him, unsolicited, which, owing to his farm work and other engagements, he was compelled to decline.

He is a quiet, modest farmer, a reader and a thinker, with plenty of good horse-sense and an honest man, enjoying the respect and confidence of his neighbors and acquaintances. He would be an able, upright and useful member of the Legislature, and a credit to any constituency in the State. He deserves the cordial and enthusiastic support of every workingman, farmer and business man in his district. 'Ihe "Woman's Suffrage party in New York City has 100,000 members. It recently held a convention at Chickering hall, three hundred ladies being present, and endorsed the nomination of Henry George for Mayor.

Since then the ladies of this organization have been taking an aotive part in the campaign, and like many caramels in the confectioner's balance, they may turn the political scale. Ladies are going from house to house canvassing for votes, distributing George tracts throughout tenement houses, and handing them to laboring men at work near the streets. Some of these fair and enthusiastic canvassers for the working-men's candidate are rich, some are school teachers, and some are working girls. They have distributed thousands of copies of the workingmen's platform and of Henry George's letter of acceptance, and several ladies have volunteered to speak at the George mass meetings. Mrs.

Blake, the chairwoman, says "All ladiea who believe in political equality and equal pay wish to see Henry George elected Mayor of New York city." And now it transpires that the man da-men issued by Cardinal Tascherau a-gainst the K. of L. wsa a mistake and is to be withdrawn. Ths Cardinal is said have examined the constitution of the order and says that it is quite different from the constitution sent to Rome a few years ago, end the mandament against the order will be withdrawn. A gentleman called upon Monsignor Henry O'Brien, the Pope's Legate who brought out the red hat to Cardinal Tascherau, who prom ised to call the attention of the Roman authorities to the case, and stated positively that the constitution passed upon by them heretofore was an entirely differ ent one in its more important provisions He assured the gentleman who sought his advice that the whole question will be settled favorable to the Knights soon.

Industrial News. Mr. Powderly has written a very sensible letter in regard to the drawing of the color line, which has caused considerable On The Way to The White House. LAND AND LABOR. RIGHTS OF PROPERTY.

"That which a man makes or produces is his own, as against all the world to enjoy or to destroy, to use, to exchange, or to give. No one else has a right to claim it, and his exclusive right to it involves no wrong to any one else. Thus there is to everything produced by human exertion a dear and indisputable title to exclusive possession and enjoyment, which is perfectly consistent with justice, as it descends from the original producer, in whom it is vested by natural law." Progress and Poverty, p. 300. "This, and this alone, I contend for that ne who makes should have that he who saves should enjoy.

I ask in behalf of the poor nothing whatever that properly belongs to the rich. Instead of weakening and confusing the idea of property, I would surround it with stronger sanctions. Instead of lessening the incentive to the production of wealth, I would make it more powerful by making the reward more certain. Whatever any man has added to the common stock of wealth, or has received of the free will of him who did produce it, let that be his as against all the world his to use or to give, to do with it whatever he may please, so long as such use does not interfere with the equal freedom ct others. For my part, I would put no limit on acquisition.

No matter how many millions any man can get by methods which do not involve the robbery of others they are his let him have them. I would not even ask him for charity, or have it dinned into my ears that it is his duty to help the poor. That is his own affair. Let him do as he pleases with his own, without restriction and without suggestion. If he gets without taking from others, and uses without hurting others, what ho does with his wealth is his own business and his own responsibility." Social Problems, p.

96. PROPERTY IN LAND. Land is not of that species of things to which the presumption of rightful property attaches. This does attach to things that are properly termed wealth, and that are the produce of labor. Such things.

in their beginning, must have an owner, as they originate in human exertion, and the right of property which attaohes to them springs from the manifest natural right of every individual to himself and to the benefit of his own exertions! Thin is the moral basis of property, which makes certain things rightfully property totally irrespective of human law. The Eighth Commandment does not derive its validity from human enactment. It is written upon the facts of nature, and self-evident to the perceptions of men. If there were but two men in the world, the fish which either of them took from the sea, the beast which he captured in the chase, the fruit which he gathered, or the hut which he erected, would be his right ful property, which the other could not take from him without violation of the moral law. But how could either of them claim the world as his rightful property Or if they agreed to divide the world between them, what moral right could their compact give as against the next man who came into the world Property in Land, p.

49. OWNERSHIP IN LAND. Look where you will, and it is evident that the private ownership of land keeps land out of use that the speculation it engenders crowds population where it ought to be more diffused; diffuses it where ought to be closer together; compels those who wish to improve to pay away a large part of their capital, or mortgage their labor for years before they are per mitted to improve prevents men from going to work for themselves who would gladly do so crowding them into deadly competition with each other for the wages of employers; and enormously the production of wealth while causing the grossest inequality in its distribution. Social Problems, p. 93.

A MODERN INSTITUTION. The treatment of land as individual property is comparatively recent, and by at least nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand of those who have lived on this world, has never been dreamed of. It is only within the last two centuries that it has, by the abolition of feudal tenures, and the suppression of tribal customs, fully obtained among our people. In fact, even among us it has hardly yet reached full development. For not only are we still spreading over land yet unreduced to individual ownership, but in the fragments of common rights which yet remain in Great Britain, as well as in laws and customs, are there survivals of the older system.

The first and universal perception of mankind is that declared by the American Indian Chief, Black Hawk: "The Great Spirit has told me that land is not to be made property like other property. The earth is our mother Property in Land, p. 52. THAT WE ALL MIGHT BE RICH. I join issue with those who say that we cannot all be rich with those who declare that in humann society the poor must always exist.

I do not, of course, mean that we all have an array of servants that we all might outshine each other in dress, in equipage, in the lavish-ness of our balls or dinners, in the mag nificence of our houses. That would be a contradiction in terms. What I mean is, that we all might have liesure, com fort and abundance, not merely of the necessaries, but even of what are now es teemed the elegancies and luxuries of life. I do not mean to say that absolute equality could be had, or would be desirable. I do not mean to say that we could all have, or would want" the same quanti fy of All th different forms or weaiin.

Bnt do mean to sav that WO might all have enough wealth to satisfy reasonable may seem to be undesirable additions to the population of our country. Certainly if it has not such power the anti-Chinese laws would not stand. The remarkable thing is that the employers who need such laws to restrain them from importing laborers for the express purpose of of breaking down the price of American labor, are the very men who profess, when they come to talk tariff, extreme solicitude for the maintenance of higher wages in this country. NOTES. Labor is demanding and beginning to receive that attention in political fields to which it is entitled.

The Minnesota Republican State Con vention has adopted the Knights of La bor platform as a whole. Workingmen must not be too impa tient; reforms come slowly, and the sure sure is through the ballot box. There are said to be 35,000 cigarmakers the International Union since it absorbed the Progressives. The Chicago Times thinks it is too ut terly ridiculous that the "hired-men caste" is trying to make itself felt in American politics. Here is the vote in the recent election in Ruthland, Vt.

What will it be in New York Republican, 747; Democrat, 245; Workingmen, 1,645. After Henry George is elected mayor of New York we venture the prediction that thousands of cities and towns will cast aside party affiliations, and elect honest, capable men, regardless of politics. There are two candidates for Congress in Indiana who are members of the K. of L. Mr.

Ham, in the Ninth District, has the endorsment of the Democrats. The coopers at St. Joseph struck for an advance of from seven to ten cents per barrel. The advance was granted. POWDERLY ON DRINK.

The following noble words of our lead er should be read and lived up to by every brothor: "To our drinking members I extend the hand of kindness, 1 hate the uses to which rum has been put, but it is my duty to reach down and lift up the man who has fallen a victim to the use of liquor. If there is a man within the sound of the secretary's voice when this is read, I ask him to stand erect on the floor of his assembly and repeat with me these words: "I am a Knight of Labor. I believe that every man should be free from the curse of slavery, whether the slavery appears in the shape of monopoly, usury or intemper ance. The firmest link in the chain of oppression is the one I forge when I drown manhood and reason in drink. No man can rob me of the brain my God has given me unless I am a party to the theft.

If I drink to drown grief, I bring grief to my wife, child and sorrowing friends. I add not one iota to the sum of human happiness when I enyite oblivion over the rim of a glass. If one moment's for-getf ullness or inattention to duty while drunk brings defeat to the least of labor's plans, a lifetime of attention to duty alone can repair the loss. I promise never again to put myself in such a position." "If every member of the Knights of Labor would only pass a resolution to boycott strong drink so far as he is con cerned for five years, and would pledge his word to study the labor question from its different standpoints we would then heve an invincible host arrayed on the side of justice." The following little gem we found stowed away in a corner of John Swin-tcn's paper: The laboring man's privi- ege 1 ne privilege of being poor and remaining so; and The star-spangled banner in triumph, still waves er the land where the poor are deepoild xne Knaves. ing to your next neighbor, a nne lor laughing; and she told me the girls in one place where she was employed were fined ten cents a minute late, though many of them had to come for miles in winter storms.

She told me of one peor girl who really worked hard one week and made but the fines against her were $5.25. That seems ridiculous, but it Is pathetic and It is shameful. But take trre cases of tho.e even vho are comparatively independent and well off. Here is a man working hour after hour, day after day, week after week, 111 doing oue thing over and over again, and for what? Just to live. He is working ten hours a day In order that he may sleep eight and may have two or three hours for himself when he is tired out and all bis faculties are exhausted.

That is not a reasonable life, that is not a life for a being possessed of the powers that are in man, and I think every man must have felt it fer himself. I know that when I first went to my trade I thought to myself that it was incredible that a man was created to work all 'ay long just to live. I used to read the Scientific American, and as invention after invention was bearlded in that paper I used to think to myself that when I became a man it would not be necessary to work hard. But on the contrary the struggle fer existence has become more and more intense. People who want to prove the contrary get up masses of statistics to show that the condition of the working classes is improving.

Improvement that you have to take a statistical microscope to discover does not amount to anything. But there is no Improvement. Improvement! Here is a broad general fact that is asserted by all who have investigated the question, by such men as Hallam, the historian, and Prof. Thorold Rogers, who has made a study of the history of prices as they were five centuries ago. When all the productive arts were in the most primitive state, when the most prolific of our modern vegetables had not been Introduced, when the breeds of cattle were small and poor, when there were hardly any leads and transportation was exceedingly difficult, when all manufacturing was done by hand in that rods time the condition of the laborers ot England was far better than It is to-day.

In those rude times no man need fear want save when actual famine came, and owing to the difficulties of transportation the plenty of one district could not relieve the scarcity of another. Save In such times no man need fear want. Pauperism, such as exists in modern times, was absolutely unknown. Everyone save the physically disabled, could make a living, and the poorest lived in rude plenty. But perhaps the most astonishing fact brought to light by this investigation is that at that time, nuder those conditions in those "dark as we call them, the working day was only sight hours.

While with all our modern inventions and Improvements, our working classes have beeo agitating and struggling In vain to get the working day reduced to eight hour. I these racts show improvement? Why. In the rudest state of society in the most primitive state of the arts the la nor of the natural breadwinner will suffice to provide a living for himselrand for those who are dependent upon. Amid all onr inventions there are large bodies of men who cannot do this. This speech, will be concluded next week.

Tbe speech, extracts from Henry George' published works, a brief sketch of hi life, and the fall text of the platform on which he is making the ean- Taes for Mayor of Mow York, have been embodied in a single pamphlet, which is now printed and sold at $1 per hundred, post pad. Address, Thz ADKS-Uno. MuscotahBecord: A State Assembly of the Knights of Labor was organized at Topeka, Sept. 30, 1853 with W. a Ander son of Atchison as State Ussier of Work man.

We know of no one better qualified tojfill the position than Ilr. Anderson. He is a man of superior bum new capaciiy, and his knowledge of the working of the order eminently qualifies him to fill the ofSoe. Subscribe for Tex TxADxa-TJirxoif 91, labored unsucce3sruliy with that man, and finally wound up by saying: stuck to his soap and lost his soul. "He But, if that man lost his soul was it his fault alone? Whose fault is it that social conditions are such that men have to make that terrible choice between what conscience tells them is right, and the necessity of earning a living? I hold that it is the fault of society; that it is the fault of us all.

Pestilence is a curse. The man who would bring cholera to this country, or the man who, having power to prevent its coming here, would make no effort to do so, would be guilty of a crime. Poverty is worse than cholera; poverty kills more people than pestilence, even in the best of times. Look at the death statistics of our cities; see where the deaths come the quickest; see where it is that the little children die like flies it is in the poorer quarters. And the man who looks with careless eyes upon the ravages of this pestilence, the man who does not set himself to stay and eradicate it, he, I say, is guilty of a crime.

If poverty is appointed by the power which is above us all, then it is no crime, but if poverty is unnecessary, then it is a crime for which society must suffer. I hold, and I think no one who looks at the facts can fail to see, that poverty is utterly unnecessary. It is not by the decree of the Al mighty, but it is because of our own igno rance, that this scourge, worse than any pestilence, ravages our civilization, bring ing want and suffering and degradation, destroying souls as well as bodies. Look over the world, in this hey-day of nine teenth century civilization. In every civ ilized country under the sun you will find men and women whose condition is worse than that of the savage: men and women and little children with whom the veriest savage could not afford to exchange.

Poverty is deepest where wealth most abounds. What more unnatural than this? There is nothing in nature like this poverty which to-day curses us. We see rapine in nature; we see one spicies destroying another; but as a general thing animals do not feed on their own kind; and, wherever we see one kind enjoying plenty all individuals of that kind share it. No man, I think, ever saw a flock of birds, of which two or three were via 111 swimming in greese and tne otners an skin and bone. Nor in savage life is there anything like the poverty that festers in our civilization.

In a rude state of socie ty there are seasons of want, seasons when people starve; but tbey are seasons when the earth has refused to yield her increase, when the rain has not fallen from the heavens, or when the land has been swept by some foe not when there is plenty; and yet the peculiar characteristic of this modern poverty of ours is that it is deepest where wealth most abounds. Why, to-day, while over the civilized world there is so much distress, so much want what is the cry that goes up? What is the current explanation of the hard times? Overproduction 1 There are so many clothes that men must go ragged, so much coal that in the bitter winters people have to shiver, such over-filled granaries that people actually die by starvation! Want due to overproduction! Was a greater absurdity ever uttered? How can there be overproduction till all have enough? It is not overproduction; it is unjust distribution. Poverty necessary! Why, think of the enormous powers that are latent in the human brain! Think how invention enables us to do with the power of one man what not long ago could hot be done by the power of a thousand. Think that in England alone the steam machinery in operation is said to exert a productive force greater than the physical force of the population of the world, were they all adults. And yet we have only begun to invent and discover.

We have not yet utilized all that has already been invented and discovered. And look at the powers of the earth. They have hardly been touched. In every direction as we look new resources seem to open. Man's ability to produce wealth almost in- 1 finite we can set no bounds to it.

En- Hi..