The Galaxy, April, 1877: Vol. XXIII.—April, 1877.—No. 4.Various
General
The Galaxy, April, 1877: Vol. XXIII.—April, 1877.—No. 4.
Various
American literature -- Periodicals
Great factories, great halls, great shops, abound--abound and magnify
that English land, so that a glamour has come over mankind, and
moon-faced idiots in all lands have cried, "Behold the glory of
England. Let us do likewise." Those great cities have glorified
themselves and have glorified England, and who has cared to look deeper
down into the mire? Have we seen these men and women, childhood and
age, reeking in squalor and vile with filth in the purlieus of every
temple? Have we looked into the slums of Liverpool and Glasgow, of
Edinburgh and Newcastle, to see men and women, childhood and age, in
all their divinity--or their damnation? Is all lovely--is it indeed? Is
this "progress"? Is it civilization? Is it Christianity? Of course it
is, all three.
I have mentioned the word _revolution_--social revolution. What is it?
Is it at hand? It is quite clear that this amazing power of steam and
machinery is doing _something_. It is quite clear that every machine
does the work of twenty men, and nineteen of these have got to seek
other means of support--they and their wives and their little ones.
It is well known that every man out of work means four mouths bare of
food. Who fills them? The rates (taxes) of course, and in London, the
last winter I was there, some six years ago, 80,000 paupers and beggars
were receiving public aid. "The laws of trade" is to make things right.
I think that is the name of the modern redeemer of men. If work is not
there and food is not there, man will flow at his own sweet will, like
water seeking its level, until he finds his food and his work
somewhere. But if man's "sweet will" decides not to flow, but to lie
down and make his bed in your _pockets_, and feed on the contents in
the shape of taxes--what is to come then? Why, he must be depleted, or
he will deplete _you_. How to deplete him is a most interesting
question? He does not deplete himself, for it is manifest to men that
paupers in England and America get children as fast as they can; and
the clergy applaud and say, "Be fruitful and multiply." There is no
continence among them--none anywhere except in wicked France.
In the "good time coming" in England, the pauper will lie down with the
prince, and there will be peace while the pauper devours the prince; or
there will be pestilence, which is a sure depleter; or the idle army
may be used to deplete the mob. Who can say?
"But there is no danger! Of course not. Why croak?"
What has been will be, under the benign influence of cheap labor and
free trade--perhaps! Let me go on with my pleasant tale--do not
interrupt--I have the word--by and by you.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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