The Millionaire’s Dilemma: A 1877 Critique on Wealth and Labor
An editorial from the Snohomish era takes on the 'purse-proud millionaires' of the Gilded Age, arguing that the true threat to the nation is the unchecked power of corporations and concentrated wealth.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
We publish in this issue an article from the ready pen of Wendell Phillips on the subject of labor and capital. While we acknowledge the vitality of the writer, we admit that he may present very good things in a very pithy manner, yet we fail to see in the article a solution to the problem. One thing strikes us as very singular: Most of the articles on the labor question come from men who, if not capitalists themselves, are in comfortable, or even opulent, circumstances. A Henry Ward Beecher, with a salary ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 per annum, speaks so merrily and smilingly of the oppressed laborer that we are satisfied he knows nothing of toil except as he reported to it in leisure moments as a mere pastime. In these modern times, when corporations and millionaires conspire to pack legislatures to frame laws that redound to their aggrandizement and to the distress of the masses, should the oppressed in their misery and wretchedness overstep the bounds of the law, by which the rich have hedged themselves, it is very good of these kind-hearted, pious millionaires to check them by mild means if they can. We do think, until they suggest a remedy that will place part of the burden of reform upon the shoulders of the rich and not all of it upon the poor, that the danger lies in the direction of a collision between the two classes.
“Until they suggest a remedy that will place part of the burden of reform upon the shoulders of the rich and not all of it upon the poor, the danger lies in the direction of a collision between the two classes.”
The editorial captures the deep-seated anxiety regarding wealth inequality and legislative corruption that defined the Gilded Age. Much like today's concerns over corporate lobbying and the 'living wage,' the writer highlights a timeless skepticism toward elites who claim to understand the plight of the working class while insulated by extreme personal fortune.
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