Show bilt j at Ts ZUi Wrong ong with th Phe World d BY CHARLES FERGUSON FERGUSON- FoPE PE PE Is a boiling bollinI cauldron 1 ln h France Franco Germany German Russia pain Spain and Norway are arc In and Ital Italy areat are at war The riots and martial l law In VI- VI ut the tho Austrian u empire In the pot She he other countries of or Europe i to o c is a well nigh universal pop- pop protest against tho high cost of or I 1 r were the technical arts the agriculture and manufacture ad- ad Uto so high a pitch as now Novi Nevare Nov Nov- i ore are were such Titan tools put e e- e hands of oC mankind and never was nature more re responsive e then does It happen that tha eve every every- where throughout tho the grand rand circle cirelo of oC modern commerce the mass of or tho people people people peo peo- find it har harder er to make a n living The lowered purchasing power of a 0 aday's aday's days day's work is a universal fact The Theca ca cause se of It cannot therefore be local It cannot be duo to monarchism or republicanism since monarchies and republics republics re- re publics are affected alike It cannot cl be clue due to tho the spread of religious or moral heresies since all religions and moralities are In involved ed The rhe case has been ag aggravated no doubt by bv the tho sudden Increase of tho the output of ot the worlds world's gold old mines But hard mone money men cannot afford to I press that argument very hard lest Jest tho the radicals leap upon the Implied confession confes confes- elon sion that the gold standard Is ts a n. pro- pro carious foundation for modern life lifo Besides Besides Be Be- sides everybody sees gees that tho the cheapening cheapening cheapening cheap cheap- ening of or gold goll pieces should raise tho the price of labor as as' well as ns of other commo commodities com mo and that the latter process should follow rollow hard upon the tho former as ns Mr Hearst said In Lon London the other other other oth oth- er days day 1 a The Lon London Lancet says ays that the tho labor la labor labor la- la bor troubles of England are caused b by bythe bythe the hot summer summer but but the world Is not convinced of or that and cannot be Surely Surel as S a a. matter of mere intellectual Intellectual Intellectual curiosity to curiosity to 50 say nothing of the themore themore more passionate concerns of ot life lIfe there I carT Is ic no problem that ca can possibly comPote compete cornic com corn pete Pote e i In common Interest with this tom lorn om of the universal rise In the tho cost at of th the necessaries of existence It Js Is The the Sphinx riddle of at the age We must answer anser it lC it-It lf we would oat and not be eaten enten Now It should he be enough that th the fault lies somewhere In the tho great Industry and the financial system that has hns overspread 1 the tho I modern world And since the effects are arc so serious we ve are ure not permitted to believe that the fault Is ll light ht or superficial W We e arc are forced rather to admit that we have marl made some fundamental mistake In the tho building of our modern modern world of oC bu business It ItTs Is no lI light ht matter matter that the tho purchasing purchasing pur- pur chasing power of a days das work worle should everywhere decline since sinco tho the very end and aim of or civilization Is to Improve tho the strength of the average l man In his struggle with the elements element elements of oC nature and the difficulties o of existence Alfred Russel Wallace said Bald in a newspaper r Interview last week Veele that the tho world is now a n worse pI place act for poor people to live In than It was wag fifty years ago From the height of or his eighty years he 10 looks abroad upon modern life and says nayo The wonderful discoveries of science and antI their application to Industry have not lessened poverty Poverty Is js enormously enormously enormously enor enor- greater than It once was It Is ts very difficult to say Bay whether there Is any uny real Improvement in civilization Tho The present government of or Great Britain Is be beginning to recognize the tact fact act that It has a n. duty to abolish star star- and that i Is IA tho the most moRt hopeful thing f I see sec Hero Is a valuable hint from a high authority It seems not Improbable that the ho solution of ot the riddle of the n age c will bo reached through a a. new understanding understanding under under- standing of ot what government Is and what It is for tor Hitherto It has been generally supposed sup sup- posed that government should have nothing to do with business enterprise or with the peoples people's battle against nature na- na ture ure for tor board and clothes In the fu- fu turo ture uro our Idea of or government nt I is likely to o undergo a 0 great reat change e. e We shall probably come cono to think of ot It as os a business business busi- busi ness partnership partnership-a a vast yost overarching pUblic trust commissioned to work out such uch a gentlemen's agreement among all minor business concerns AH as shall shaH make malte it po possible for tor every man to be a gentleman r |