326 LAND AND LABOR. 



are driven to prostitution in that city, because of low 

 wages, is most disheartening, may possibly enable 

 him to find another " lesson which is really taught 

 by the condition of Massachusetts." The lesson 

 taught by the cities of New York and Boston is 

 preached by every city, town, and hamlet in the 

 country. The lesson is universal ; and it would be 

 in the exercise of the greatest charity if one could 

 come to the conclusion that when the author of " La- 

 bor and Capital Allies, not Enemies," wrote that sen- 

 tence he was trying to formulate a ghastly sarcasm. 



But there is no mistaking the lesson that the au- 

 thor of that little volume is trying to teach ; and 

 that is, that the earth and all that it contains was 

 created and exists for the exclusive enjoyment of the 

 rich, and that the poor live only to add to their 

 pleasures. Upon the evidence furnished by Mr. At- 

 kinson's essay there can be no doubt that " under the 

 beneficent action of competition " Capital and Cheap 

 Labor have become Active Allies in the work of de- 

 stroying all the industries of the people and crushing 

 of the foundations of society. 



But to return to the consideration of the Labor 

 Bureau reports, and in view of the above exhibits of 

 the way grand results are reached by the most ex- 

 traordinary methods, it is sickening to read paeans 

 like the following, on page xviii, ibid. : 



' In the light of the hard and unanswerable arguments of facts 

 as evidenced herein, our anxiety for the future, industrially, of 

 Massachusetts must be allayed. Our great industries are built 

 upon too firm a foundation to be toppled over by any epheme- 

 ral, speculative schemes." 



