The picture, thus drawn by Mr. Forest, appeared so dreadful, especially when compared by me with the descriptions of Dr. Leete, that I could not collect myself sufficiently to try an argument against the conclusions of my predecessor in the professorship of the history of the nineteenth century.
After a short pause the present janitor continued: “Now consider in connection with all the facts and institutions that I have mentioned, that “the workers have no suffrage to exercise or anything to say about the choice” of their superiors.[14]—“The general of the guild appoints to the ranks under him, but he himself is not appointed, but chosen by suffrage among the superintendents by vote of the honorary members of the guilds, that is by those who have served their time in the guild and received their discharge”[15].—So my dear Mr. West, the members of the industrial army are twenty-four years absolutely at the mercy of their superiors. If they desire to have a good time they must blindly obey orders and seek favor by all means in their power. They must influence their friends who have votes not only to stand by the administration, but to do it in a demonstrative manner. Occasional presents of wines and cigars may secure the friendship of some of the officers. Otherwise the member of the industrial army may lead for twenty-four years a life, compared with which the lot of a plantation slave or of the poorest coal digger 150 years ago would be called an enviable fate. For a plantation slave was considered a valuable piece of property and not recklessly destroyed, while the poorest coal digger could leave his job and go to some other place, until he found more suitable employment. A member of our industrial army, who has drawn down upon himself the ire of the officers of the administration or who is placed on the list of the enemies of society on account of the opposition of his voting relatives, leads a life that may be termed as “twenty four years of hell on earth”! I have demonstrated to you now, Mr. West, why congress has no influence. The vast majority of its members are continually trying to please the administration, for the purpose of securing favors for themselves, their relatives and their friends,” said Mr. Forest in conclusion. “And this is the equality of the best organization society ever had; this is what Dr. Leete calls the millennium”.
[14] Page 277.
[15] Page 189.
CHAPTER IV.
“It is in conformity with the laws of nature and, therefore, right that a man should push his son, his relatives and friends, and I would not blame a man for doing this; I should rather denounce him for not doing it—always provided, of course, that said son, said relatives or friends were qualified to fill the positions to which they are appointed”, said Mr. Forest at our next conversation. “I remember that I have read in certain books a great deal about the nepotism shown at your time in the distribution of the federal patronage, and that General Grant was accused of always preferring his relatives and friends in making appointments. I sympathize with that great commander in the sturdiness with which he stood by his friends, and I am inclined to excuse the mistakes, he sometimes made in his appointments, because they were mistakes of his heart that was always true to his friends and sometimes was inclined to overestimate their ability, or sense of honor. If the ties of blood and friendship are not to be considered, what else should be? And since a man is bound to know the character and ability of his relatives and friends better than the qualities of other people, he should certainly first appoint those next to him to positions for which they are qualified.”
“But the trouble with our political and social system is, that it is bound to breed not only favoritism, but also corruption on the largest scale. One hundred and thirteen years ago, the men at the head of the National Government or those who were influential with them were also sometimes filling places, where for little work a good salary was paid, with unworthy women and men, but such sinecures were comparatively few and far between. The number of federal officials in your days was, if I am not mistaken about 80,000, and the postmasters of the small country towns, who made up the largest part of the 80,000 were paid such a beggarly commission for the sale of postage stamps, that no one could afford to accept such positions except trades people, who kept a store, where they had to be all day anyhow, and to whom the honor and small profits were an object. And then the incumbents of all the offices that could be classed as sinecures, were changed every four or eight years. Our administrations have a very long life. The one ousted twelve years ago lasted twenty-six years. And the number of positions at the command of the government is very large. There is one lieutenant or overseer to about each and every twelve men or women, not to mention the captains, colonels, etc.; and the amount of bookkeeping done, is simply enormous. We are keeping books as you know, I suppose, in all the producing as well as in the distributing departments, and more than that: every citizen has an account in the police books[16].
[16] Page 87.
“When you take into consideration our great and growing population, you can form some idea of how enormous this work is. You are aware, that the North American territory, formerly under British rule, has been annexed to the United States, and that the population, according to the census of 1990, numbered 414,000,000. It is now estimated at 500,000,000[17]. The complicated system of bookkeeping required by the communistic plan of production, and the shortness of working hours granted to the bookkeepers, who are all preferred men and women, favorites of the members of the administration, made it necessary to appoint a bookkeeper for every fifty people. Under the former administration we had one bookkeeper for every forty-two people. This gives to the government a chance to provide, at its own pleasure, over 10,000,000 of men and women with clean and easy work. Add to these 10,000,000 of positions about 10,000,000 officers of the industrial army, from the lieutenantships up to the positions of colonel; add, furthermore, the clerkships in the distributing places and many other preferred positions, and you can see at a glance what an enormous power the administration possesses and how tempting this power is.”