THE UNITED STATES,—THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN CAPITAL AND LABOUR.

[TO THE EDITOR OF TEE "SPECTATOR.")

SIR,—The sudden and disastrous outbreak in America excites profound attention, and compels careful consideration on both sides of the water. Perhaps you will permit an American who has for some years watched the movements of the struggle between capital and labour space for some suggestions which may help to an understanding of the matter on this side, for if I am not greatly mistaken, you, too, are in-danger. The " feudal baron " has been supplanted in our day by the master of capital," but there is this striking difference,—that

whereas the baron recognised in some dim way the duty of pro- tecting and feeding his serfs and followers, the capitalist knows no such duty. Without his fighting-men, the baron was power. lees ; without the labourer, where will the capitalist end ?

Capital has been at work in America for the last thirty years, having a most fertile soil, infinite coal and water, an ingenious and active people of English stock, and it has seemingly grown rich beyond any example known in history. As to the Railway interest, capital has built railways in unprecedented numbers, and with amazing speed. Many of them are vastly in advance of the real needs of the community. Many which were wanted have been ruined by rival and competing lines (for we demand liberty,

—liberty to ruin, too), and hardly any have been built honestly ; they have been built by speculators for their own profit, regard- less wholly of the wants of the community, or of the rights of the stockholders.

Now it is hardly possible that a railway can earn dividends on a watered capital, expressing often three or four times its cost.

What, then, was and is to be done ? One thing is to reduce expenses, and in so doing to reduce the pay of its employes,—rarely its presidents and treasurers. That is what is and has been going on in America for the past two years, persistently and boldly, perhaps properly and inevitably.

Lot me ask attention to another fact of American life. It is education. We have determined that there should be no ignorant

people among us. The common school has become a law and a pride to the community. It is supported by a forced tax, and we are compelling all children to have this education, whether they

will or no. We carry this system of education to a high point.

Now please to apply this fact to the present condition in America. All railway officers and employes must be men of superior intelli-

gence and of much education. They are no longer serfs, they have many wants and many tastes, they do not live in hovels nor eat black-bread ; they have children, and are ambitious for them, if not for themselves ; they wear broadcloth and silk.

These are the kinds of men who see that their wages are being made smaller and smaller. They know not where it will end, they do not like it, they will not consent to it, except by force of necessity. They will say, "Let the capitalist suffer, rather than we be forced to live the life of serfs." They do say so. These

are the men of education, who are quite able to know their own wants, and to combine to secure them This they have done, and this they will continue to do, unless we shoot them. This brotherhood of the Railway-men extends throughout the United States, as we are all able to see at this moment.

We see, then, that this strike is a revolt now, and it will be, I think, by-and-by, a revolution.

The base and the vicious—nearly all the overflow of Europe— who have joined in the strike have, for the moment, made it dis- graceful, and it will be suppressed. But will it, then, remain quiet ? Capitalists should not believe it.

Numbers now are a power, and numbers which are intelligent will know how to combine and to compel capital to some terms. Already capital is almost worthless,—it will produce no dividends

in trade, in manufactures, or in railways ; it is producing none to-day. I know myself, as do you, men 'who, three years ago, were worth a million, who, at this moment, have not wherewith to buy their bread.

Does this mean nothing ? Does it not mean a violent and dis-

astrous equalising of property, to the ruin of the capitalist as well as the labourer ? If the labourer is out of work, if he pro- duces nothing, he can buy nothing ; more than that, he must be fed by those who can produce, or he must emigrate, or he must be shot. If labour is not employed, rents cannot be paid, and capital can earn nothing. To just that point have things come ins some parts of the United States, and to just that point must they arrive in England, because like causes produce like effects. Some other and very radical causes are at work on both sides the water to complicate and intensify this present condition, which you wilt hardly give me room to state. But it will be well for capital to believe that the shooting of a few rioters is not going to settle the matter, or remove these radical causes. It is probable that riots and revolts will break out from time to time, until some solution mutually beneficial to the capitalist and the labourer is hit upon, in a hap-hazard and confused way. Many quacks, call- ing themselves men of science, will arise, who will pour into the- body social their nostrums, which will only increase our malady..

What we have to do is to believe that there is now, to-day, IC deep-seated fever in our social system, which neither bullets nor soothing-syrups will cure. If we believe this, then we shalt demand, What is the remedy ?

That question is easier to ask than to answer. But it must be answered—and honestly, intelligently—or capitalist and labourer alike are ruined, and society is again a failure.

If capital was intelligent enough, it would in every city associate itself with the moat intelligent and honest labour to investigate this imperative problem, and then, with patience and sincerity, seek such a solution as would preserve capital and satisfy labour. Sir, can the greeds and the impatiences of men be ever made to work for good ? Will capital take the initiative in trying to• solve this problem ? If the danger is threatening, it may do so. Is not the danger threatening ? My country has sounded the warning trumpet,—will yours heed it ?—I am, Sir, &c., X. X. X.