Page:Alexander Jonas - Reporter and Socialist (1885).djvu/19

 Then you are of the opinion that in this respect there is no difference in the condition of the laboring people of despot-ridden old Europe and of our republican America, where there is room enough for many more millions. Don't you think that your ideas emanate merely from the condition of affairs in Europe, and that your conclusions have no bearing upon America?

This is one of the inferences made by the ignorant press quite frequently, because editors in general know nothing of the reality of things; for, if they did, they would soon find out that just this very inference proves the fallacy of their reasoning from what I have said before this. What is the alleged difference in the conditions of Europe and America? That Europe is governed by monarchical rulers and their heelers; that it is in continuous readiness for war; that every square foot of soil is taken, i. e. that the country is overpopulated; while America is a Republic, and has room for many more millions of settlers, who, also—as it is alleged—have easy access to the soil free of cost (and this is the vital point in the question before us.) And now, I will not even proceed to investigate whether under our present republican institutions as they were shaped by the prevailing system of corruption, the people do not pay more in the form of indirect taxes and all sorts of fees etc. to their National, State and Municipal Governments, than is exacted from European nations for the support of their rulers and their standing armies; I think this could be proven by statistics. Neither do I desire to discuss the fact that the Monarchies and Republics of Europe (for there are such also) have laws and institutions by which it is attempted, if not to remove the root of the evil, to at least prove that European governments have the desire to further the interests of the working people by giving them factory inspection, by partly or entirely forbidding child-labor, etc.; by governmental life insurance, sick and accident benefit funds; by reducing the hours of labor, by establishing bureaus for Labor Statistics etc., institutions that either do not exist in the United States or are in an undeveloped state as yet. We shall not consider these points though, I think, we would find that the working people of the United States are not so