400 INTRODUCTION. 



Aside from questions of humanity it is only surprising 

 that these persons are not among the first to sound the 

 alarm, and enlist their efforts in lifting the burdens from 

 the shoulders of the producing classes. 



Is it possible that these people "have been per- 

 suaded," (to use the mild expression of Thad. Stevens), to 

 help rivet the chains of bondage on their fellow men? 

 In order that we may not be thought to have overdrawn 

 the picture in describing the present condition of our 

 Republic, and our tendency toward that state of society 

 which is the sure precursor of revolution, we present the 

 following statements from eminent authorities: 



"The labor movement in our politics grew out of a 

 feeling among intelligent voters, by no means confined 

 to the working people, that the government is being 

 perverted from its real objects and that neither of the 

 old parties is making such a stand as is needed against the 

 dangerous tendencies of the times. If there were not 

 some reason for such a feeling, it could not have become 

 so general and so strong within so brief a period. This 

 government was founded upon the principle of the equality 

 of its citizens. Democracy is equality and equality is 

 democracy. But things are no longer equal in a republic 

 when a poor man cannot be elected to high offices. They 

 are not equal when a constituency elects "John Doe" to 

 Congress, and, through the influence of a great corpora- 

 tion's money, "Richard Roe" so "explains things" to the 

 representative that he favors the corporation against the 

 people. Thomas Carlyle explained Anglo-Saxon govern- 

 ment as due to "respect for the constable," this official 

 symbolizing the law. The foundation of good govern- 

 ment is disturbed when citizens lose their respect for the 

 law. And they are losing their respect for it in this coun- 

 try, owing to the prevalent belief, for which there is, 

 unhappily, too many supports, that law-makers are cor- 



