CONDITION OF THE LABORERS. 133 



XVII. CONDITION OF THE LABORERS. 



I have no disposition to obtrude my opinion, in any form, so as 

 to give offence. Indeed, it has always seemed to me unreason 

 able in any case, or on any subject, that the honest opinions of 

 any man should be the occasion of offence, as though wethad 

 the same control of our opinions as we have of our limbs : as 

 though we should have any other object, in any matter, but the 

 attainment of truth ; and as if there were any way of attain 

 ing truth but by the utmost freedom of discussion ; and, above 

 all, as though men should, under any circumstances, feel at liberty 

 to exercise the same tyranny over the mind which physical force 

 and political stratagem give them over the person. 



One cannot help seeing that wealth and prosperity are not 

 always coincident ; that wealth is not therefore the infallible in 

 dex of prosperity. In many cases, and perhaps it may only be 

 rendered more striking from contrast, the extraordinary accu 

 mulations of wealth on one side are followed by a corresponding 

 depression on the other ; while the rich are made richer, in the 

 same proportion the poor are made poorer. As wealth increases, 

 avarice is more powerfully stimulated, and labor more severely 

 taxed. In the richest communities, the price of labor is always 

 the most depressed ; and with the increase of luxury the desire of 

 indulgence is quickened with all classes : what might properly 

 be termed luxuries and superfluities become absolute necessaries 

 of life, and the expenses of living are proportionally increased to 

 all. We may deplore such results, and deem it easy to suggest a 

 remedy; but what remedy is of general or of practical applica 

 tion? The more artificial the state of society becomes, the 

 more difficult it becomes to provide the means of living ; and 

 yet who would return to the state of nature, or abate one tittle 

 in the actual refinements of life ? Communities are growing up 

 among us upon the principles of perfect equality of rank, the 

 equal combination of labor, and an entire community of goods : 

 and there are examples, where such communities, bound together 

 by a strong religious tie, and subject to a most despotic govern 

 ment within themselves, have been maintained, and are still 

 flourishing. But without this religious tie, or some strong 

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