56 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



THE STEUGGLE FOR EQUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES 



VIII 



By Professor CHARLES F. EMERICK 



SMITH COLLEGE 



The Current Trend of Affairs. Ill 



No feature of the present era is more full of promise than the grow- 

 ing strength of the working classes. The gain in self-respect, political 

 influence, ability to cooperate and capacity for self-help during the 

 nineteenth century is almost beyond belief. This is notably true where 

 the working classes occupy a strategic position in bargaining with their 

 employers, as in the building trades and in connection with railways. 

 Quite the reverse of the progressive deterioration of the masses pre- 

 dicted by some prophets of disaster is taking place. The rank and file 

 of society is the recruiting ground of so much that is best among our 

 political and industrial leaders that it is obviously the mainstay of our 

 civilization. If any one thing has been clearly demonstrated it is the 

 capacity of the man of humble origin to make good in a surprising num- 

 ber of instances if he is only given a chance. It is a mistake to associ- 

 ate the working-class movement with turbulence and disorder to the 

 exclusion of the fortitude and self-sacrifice displayed in attaining its 

 ends. The acts of lawlessness are, after all, sporadic, and are so gener- 

 ally recognized as anti-social that society can usually be depended upon 

 to suppress them with a firm hand. Unfortunately, there is less cer- 

 tainty that the community possesses the foresight, patience and resolu- 

 tion necessary to deal intelligently with the straitened circumstances 

 and conditions out of which lawlessness springs. Among the factors 

 that are welding together the diverse linguistic, racial and religious ele- 

 ments that come to us from other lands, few are as influential as the 

 labor movement. The independence and self-reliance of working people, 

 and the quickness with which they resent an insult, are common sub- 

 jects of remark among employers of domestic and of other help. The 

 point of view of the employer is easy enough to understand, but it calls 

 attention to a situation that is socially hopeful. Even from the stand- 

 point of employers, a working class that knows its rights and dares main- 

 tain them is to be preferred to one that is servilely submissive. It puts 

 employers on their mettle and under bonds of good behavior. Much as 

 socialism, when it goes to certain extremes, is to be feared, it renders 

 wealth less arrogant in its demands, makes powerfully for the correction 



