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away the whole question involved in the labor problem, and resolved it into the one of, What shall the wages be? They admitted the right to hold them in the bonds of wage-service, and while that opinion prevails there is no hope of emancipation from the greed of capital. So long as men are satisfied to surrender their natural rights for a mere pittance and their dignity as men, thus conceding the right of capital to cons trol labor, barter their liberties, and sacrifice their manhood for a price, we may be sure of a continuation of slavery without mitigation or relief.

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So long as the cultivators of the soil only demand less rents as a measure of reform, they ignore the very question involved in the reform, and may be sure of the continuance of the relation of landlords and tenants, lords and serfs. So long as the wealth-producer believes that money possesses intrinsic value based on its convertibility into gold and silver, so long will he be cursed and impoverished by the unjust distribution of wealth, and be willing to suffer his hard earnings to be accumulated by moneylenders in the shape of interest. So long as mechanics and tradesmen believe that banking institutions are just and necessary, so long will they continue to be robbed by the control of prices, by

usury, and the golden harvests by operating fictitious capital. So long as the people believe that corporations have the right to control public highways, and claim in them the rights of absolute ownership and the right to consolidate their interests to monopolize transportation, and thus control labor and market prices, so long will these corporations continue their brigandage upon the toiling millions. So long as the people have full confidence in our educational institutions, and regard them as the "palladium of our liberties," there will be no disposition to change them-for they contribute largely to the perpetuation of existing conditions.

Without a radical change in public sentiment; without a clear conviction that our system of government is wrong no matter what the opinion is as to the mode of administering the existing one; until the conviction is clear and positive that vested powers have usurped natural rights, whereby laws are enacted in favor of the few to rob the many, and an executive power instituted by which these laws are enforced-there is no hope for a remedy.

When courts fail to administer justice; when they become the willing tools of designing men and powerful corporations, by which the strong are supported and the weak without protection ;'

when these are manipulated wholly by a special sand exclusive class requiring special training, and the validity of their authority goes unquestioned by the people, who bow with submission to that authority what hope is there in reform in the administration of justice, or the substitution of a better mode?

It can never be. A revolution must come; and it will come. Shall it come in blood, or in pence? By the bayonet, or the ballot? By passion, or reason? By the desolation of war, or the guidance of wisdom? We hope and toil and pray for the latter. Let us transform this oligarchy of wealth, this usurpation of power, this monopoly of capital, this universal greed of avarice, by which millions upon millions are made to bow their backs for the burdens of despotism, and bend the knee in servile submission to a proud and haughty aristocracy, into a NEW REPUBLIC, wherein justice will hold rule and the law of righteousness will prevail, equality and liberty founded on the natural, inalienable rights of man will bless this oppressed and greed-cursed people. How little they appreciate this transformation! Accustomed to wrongs and usurpations, to false theories and dictation, and having never tasted the sweets of liberty, harmony, competence, and the inestimable blessings of that full and exalted

development and culture in all the attributes of their being to their full capacity, they seem to expect little more than they realize.

It is difficult to think aright; it is more difficult to act aright when thought is rightly directed and the ideal formed; but by the exercise of will, by surrounding one's self with good influences and repelling bad ones, and persisting in this, that ideal character can be realized. T

When this is done, education will have done its work. All the powers and faculties of the human being will be developed and cultivated to the highest capacity, and the "pursuit of happiness will be crowned in full fruition.

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"See yonder poor, o'erlabored wight,
Só abject, mean, and vile,
Who begs a brother of the earth
To give him leave to toil.
Then see his lordly fellow-worm
The poor petition spurn,
Unmindful though a weeping wife

And helpless offspring mourn."

WITH the vast amount of speculation and discussion in regard to the relation of labor and capital, the problem seems as far from solution as ever. To discuss this important question, it will be necessary to take up and examine each factor involved, and consider all of them in their logical order.

The ultimate object of all labor is the production of values; but without the necessary conditions and appliances for its embodiment and utilization it is of no avail. Labor perishes the instant it is performed, and without embodying its results it is lost forever. One might labor all day in lifting at a heavy weight, with no result save that of physical exhaustion.

Mere human exertion, then, without embodi

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