ITS WRONGFUL CLAIMS AND RIGHTFUL DUES ITS ACTUAL PRESENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURE BY WILLIAM THOMAS THORNTON AUTHOR OF A PLEA FOR PEASANT PROPRIETORS' ETC. 'La grandeur du problème ne nous doit point accabler. Seulement il convient de l'aborder avec frayeur et modestie. Le résoudre, personne en particulier ne le pourrait; en combinant leurs efforts, tous le peuvent. Dans l'œuvre du progrès universel, que sont, considérés l'un après l'autre, les meilleurs ouvriers? Et néanmoins l'ouvrage avance, la besogne du genre humain va s'accomplissant d'une manière irrésistible, et chaque homme qui étudie travaille, même en se trompant, à l'œuvre de la vérité' LOUIS BLANC, Organisation du Travail LONDON MACMILLAN AND CO. 1869 CXL WILLIAM THOMAS THORNTON ON LABOUR ITS WRONGFUL CLAIMS and RIGHTFUL DUES Ristampa anastatica della prima edizione del 1869 B EDIZIONI BIZZARRI Stampato a Roma nel 1969 EDIZIONI BIZZARRI, s. r. l. Via Ruggero Bonghi 11/B - 00184 Roma R. Pioda - Roma 'WHEN I was about five-and-twenty,' said the late Mr. Nassau Senior, 'I determined that I would reform the condition of the poor of England.' When I was myself about the same age, I conceived, not indeed the same ambitious design, but much the same desire as that which it implies. More than five-and-twenty years have passed since then, and it is somewhat sadly now, with sexagenarianism at no great distance, that I contrast the insignificance of performance with the magnificence of my youthful projects. But the passion of a life is not to be extinguished by any failures that do not extinguish life itself, and so long as any strength is vouchsafed to me, so long shall it be cheerfully devoted to continued search after a cure for human destitution. Vast as the problem is, 'its magnitude need not overwhelm us. Only it requires to be approached with caution and modesty. Though no one singly can expect to solve it, by combining their efforts all may. In the work of universal progress, what individually are the ablest of workers? And yet the work advances: mankind's great business tends |