CHAPTER XIII. 



THE PRESS. 



WE HAVE, in previous chapters, taken occasion to 

 discuss to some extent the relation which the newspaper 

 occupied to the interests of the laborer. The subject, 

 however, is fraught with so much importance that we 

 deem it proper to devote this chapter exclusively to its dis- 

 cussion. Many years ago Thomas Carlyle wrote of us as 

 a nation, saying, we would have our " trial period." 



"It will be," he said, "when health is intact, crops 

 abundant and the magnificent land open. Then so-called 

 statesmen will cry over-production, and the man of the 

 ballot, the self-reliant, the self-pliant, will go to the ballot 

 box amidst hunger and destitution (but surrounded by the 

 glitter of self-rule) and ratify by his ballot the monstrous 

 falsehood uttered by mis-statesmen, and vindicated by the 

 same ballot, the infamous lie thrown upon the breezes 

 by a senile editor through a corrupt press, and thus bring 

 ruin upon his country, serfdom upon himself, and the 

 death of oppression upon his children." 



We leave it to every thoughtful person if we are not 

 now having our trial period. Our "mis-statesmen," 

 "senile editor," and "corrupt press" have long since 

 made their appearance. Fifteen years ago, when the great 

 crash of 1873 prostrated the industries of the country and 

 whirled thousands of our best business men into the vortex 

 of financial ruin, entailing a loss of hundreds of millions 

 of dollars, closing down our manufactories, our workshops 



