THE SOURCE OF PROSPERITY. 225 



of the world was originally purchased ; " and that 

 "a man grows rich by employing a multitude of 

 manufacturers." 



Most certainly if it is by labor that all the wealth 

 of the world is created, and if a man grows rich by 

 employing a multitude of workmen, then the converse 

 of these propositions must be true, that it is because 

 labor is not employed, or only to a very small extent 

 because of the great amount of idleness that the 

 world is distressed and man is made poor. 



It is an indisputable fact that when our industrial 

 classes have been most generally employed, and in 

 receipt of the most liberal compensations, that period 

 has been marked with the most general prosperity 

 and society has made the greatest advancement. But 

 that, on the other hand, when the people have been 

 least employed, and in receipt of the smallest com- 

 pensations, then is the time of greatest adversity and 

 society absolutely goes backward. That the last is 

 our present condition is manifest to every thoughtful 

 person. Even in the works of those who make it their 

 business to show that we are now enjoying a period 

 of unusual prosperity there is the clearest evidence 

 of the great distress by which we are surrounded. In 

 the Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor 

 Statistics for Massachusetts is found the following 

 testimony upon this point, from both manufacturers 

 and workmen in that State, in answer to inquiries 

 from the Bureau : 



" We think the question will be, Can they [the workmen] get 

 employment at all ? " Agricultural Implements, (6) page 148. 

 " We have to rush through such styles as fashion dictates, 



