CLASS INTERESTS: THEIR RELATIONS TO EACH OTHER AND TO GOVERNMENT. A STUDY OF WRONGS AND REMEDIES-TO Patterson, John Staff BY THE AUTHOR OF 99 66 CONFLICT IN NATURE AND LIFE, REFORMS: THEIR DIFFICULTIES NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET. General Lib 10-3.52 PREFACE. If I had written on these subjects a dozen years ago, the statement would have been different from this. It would then have been made in the spirit of those economical doctrines which affirm the sufficiency of competition to enable all who deserve, to win. But economical conditions are constantly changing ; and one may change views with further study. The forces are daily multiplying which relegate competition to the back ground, and give the victory to combination. The character of the struggle is not what it once was-mainly a struggle between individuals; it is now largely a struggle between the organized few and the unorganized many, in which the former get advantages and often push them to the utmost. I have no apology to make for sympathy with the weaker who are pushed to the wall in an unequal struggle, even if that sympathy be suspected of necessary association with bias. I have endeavored to keep the bias, if any, in strict logical subordination. Some may think that my statement, if it reach the people, will cause them to feel unnecessary discontent. I know there are some who would keep employés in ignorance, just as slaveholders would keep their slaves in ignorance, and for a similar Let us hope there are not many such. The supposition that the masses of the people can be kept wholly in ignorance of abuses from which they suffer, is altogether gratuitous. reason. |