PREFACE. IN the preparation of this volume it has been my purpose to bring into the discussion those great factors that have been, heretofore, so uniformly overlooked, or designedly ignored. The condition of the great masses of the people their idleness and their employment, with their consumption as well as production-appear to me to be matters of the utmost importance. The radical change in all our methods of production is another thing that seems to be of great interest, and vitally affecting the welfare of mankind. But I have failed to find that others have deemed them of sufficient moment to merit even the most casual inquiry. It has long been a decided conviction in my mind that a knowledge of the condition of the people is of as great importance as the knowledge of their number, and I succeeded in having a clause added to the last census bill, providing for an enumeration to be made of the number who were found idle, also of the employed, and the amount of their employment during the previous year. But the method adopted in taking the census made it valueless. The workers themselves, who alone could have answered, were not inquired of, but all inquiries were directed to boardinghouse keepers and employers, who did not know and could not answer. Had it been the deliberate purpose of the Census Bureau to defeat the objects of the provision, a more certain means could not have been adopted. Failing to obtain this most important information through the census, I have been compelled to ascertain the idleness in the country by other methods. Much the larger portion of the facts here used is the result of my personal observations and diligent inquiries, in which I have received the sympathy and encouragement of valued friends who saw the importance of the facts collected, and the line of the discussion, though they might not now altogether accept the conclusions reached. Among others I venture to give the names of the Rev. Dr. Edward Everett Hale and Rev. Minot J. Savage, Boston; Senator George F. Hoar, Massachusetts; Senator Henry W. Blair, New Hampshire; Rev. Edward Anderson, Toledo, Ohio; Hon. George William Curtis, Rev. Dr. R. Heber Newton, and Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, New York City. To the last named, in particular, am I indebted for that substantial aid so necessary, and yet so hard to find, that has enabled me to carry my work to the point where the reader takes it. If, as I hope, my efforts shall have the effect of opening a discussion, and pointing out a way by which humanity may be benefited, to that noble woman, fully as much as to myself, will the debt of gratitude be due. W. G. M. |