LABOR. 25 



part of the society or community which ( ( fixes the condition 

 of his life. ' ' Society is the State or government in which 

 he lives. He must therefore appeal to the State for that 

 relief which he has tried in vain to reach through the 

 instrumentality of strikes. An associated effort on the 

 part of the community or State of which the laborer 

 is a part may go far towards correcting the evils to which 

 he is subject. A community may be a force tending to a 

 better or worse order of life, as it may happen; or its power 

 may be wielded for evil by the more perfect association of 

 a large and influential portion of its members. It is no 

 longer a matter of doubt but that the American laborer has 

 just grounds of complaint against the assisted importation 

 of cheap labor from foreign countries. In its encourage- 

 ment, and our u haste to become rich and mighty," we find 

 ourselves confronted with a question that threatens the 

 very foundations of our social and political structures. 

 The community is a sick man suffering from the anti-social 

 disorders of ignorance, selfishness and unlimited competi- 

 tion. The hypocritical philanthropists have thought it a 

 good practice to give the patient fresh doses of ignorance and 

 barbarism. They seem to be charmed with the near dollar 

 to be made out of cheap labor, but utterly ignore the 

 inevitable degradation of the community, and its peril to 

 the estate of those who are fortunate enough to accumu- 

 late anything, and to the future of the Republic. 



