The Labor enquirer. [volume], January 20, 1883, Page 4, Image 4

About The Labor enquirer. [volume] (Denver, Colo.) 1882-1888

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THE LABOR ENQUIRER,
PUBLISHED BY % % \
BUCHANAN <fc LAVERTY.
4 ‘We will renew tlie times of truth andjus-
Condensing in a fair, free commonwealth
Not rash equality, but equal rights.
Entered at the Denver postoftice as second
class matter.
The Labob Enquirer is published every
Saturday. It will be devoted to the discus
sion of all subjects which tend to educate,
elevate and advance the laboring classes.
Politically, it will support only the friends
of labor.
Subscription rates, 81.50, In advance.
All communications must be addressed to
The Labor Enquirer, 370 Larimer Street,
Denver, Colorado. . .
PROMPT DELIVERY.
We have had considerable complaint
about the delivery of The Enquirer,.
r 5
some of our subscribers in the city not
receiving their papers until Monday.
This is not our fault. It has been caused
by a misunderstanding with the post
office officials. We were led to believe
that if the papers were put in the office
by noon'Saturday they would be deliv
ered that day. We have acted in accor
. dance with this understanding, but have
since learned that a large number of the
papers have not been delivered until
Monday. In the future we shall go to
press on Friday afternoan and get all the
papers in the office the same day; so
there will be no excuse for their not
reaching the subscribers Saturday.
In this connection we would suggest that
some of our subscribers who live a dis
tance from the business part of the city,
and who work in the shops ar.d smelt
ers, have their addresses chaneed to the
places where they* are employed. They
will then get their papers certainly on
Saturday, as the boxes of the firms em
ploying them are emptied two
times each day.
We want everyone to get his paper
before Sunday, and if the whole force in
the office has to turn out and carry them
we mean to.accomplish this end.
PLAIN talk.
The Enquires has no fault to find wim
the support accorded it. Our subscrip
tion list has already reached a figure
which we had only hoped to attain after
several months of hard work. We now
have no fears as to. the success of the
undertaking, and are doubly resolved
that so long as we are spared health and
life The Labor Enquirer shall continue
to make its weekly visits to the homes
■of the workingmen of-Colorado., But
we desire to say a word to those work
ingmen who have not as yet given their
Bupport substantially. Our agents fre
quently meet with men who think the
paper is a good thing and should be sup
ported in the interest of labor, but they
have been fooled several times in this
regard. They have subscribed for labor
j papers and have received them for only
a fraction of the time paid. Others have
given their support to papers that have
kept up for a short time and have then
Bold out their principles and have gone
square back on the workingmen. We
know these statements are true, and
when we commenced the publication of
our paper we were fully aware we should
have the failures and rascality of the
past to contend with. Those papers
that suspended without giving the ser
vice paid for were in many instances
excusable—not receiving sufficient sup
port to keep them alive. In other in
stances these journals have had to go
under because of the expense attached
to the publication ; the whole, large
proportion of the force employed being
on the pay roll and drawing in the way
of salaries weekly the life blood out of
the institution In many cases where
our organs have sold out to some politi
• cal power, we ourselves have been to
blame for it, in that we have failed to
support the paper as it deserved, and its
owners have been iD sore need of money
to save their enterprise and maintain
their credit, and their moral courage has
not been strong enough to withstand
temptation. The selling-out policy in
ninety-nine cases out of one hundred
proves suicidal in the end, but all men
have not the backbone to stand up and
face misfortune and ride the stormy
waves of trouble, and for the sake of
momentary relief become blind to the
inevitable.results of such action. We
do not desire to excuse or apologize for
the men who,have been thus weak. We
have no respect for a man who lacks the
principle and nerve to do his duty fear
lessly and boldly, even if forced at times
to do so with an empty stomach. But
we call attention to those points to show
the friends of the laborers’ cause that if
thev desire a press that will at all times
fearlessly and faithfully stand up for
their rights, they must be awake to the
necessity of supporting its leaders.
The Enquirer is owned, edited and
set up by practical men. We pay no
salaries, and can publish the paper at
less expense than any class of men not
but there is considerable ex
pense attached to the getting out of a
paper as large .as this, outside of the me
chanical and head work!
We are residents of this community,
have our families here, and have a repu
tation to protect. We are of the poorest
tyiri hardest-working of the workingmen.
We are proud of the fact that we have
the confidence and respect of our brother
workers in channels outside of the news
paper business. We have unblemished
records for upAhtness and square deal
ing with ourMflowmen in the past, and
we think 'all are evidences of the
honesty of our intentions to deal fairly
and honestly by our fellow laborers.
This may to some sound very egotisti
cal, but we . feel that the occasion de
mands just such plain talk. We have
the old prejudices to contend with, and
as this is the only medium we have to
publicly state the situation and declare
ourselves, we do not deem it at all bad
taste. It is to your interest that The
Labor Enquirer should be kept up and
made the mouthpiece of the toiling
people of Colorado, and we ask you to
stop and consider how much the success
ful carrying out of this purpose depends
upon each of you. If the paper suits
you, give it your substantial support.
Do not allow the unhappy records of the
past to come between you and your
plain duty in this matter. If every
workingman in the country withheld
his support from the labor journals of
the country simply because they had
been fooled in the past and cheated out
of 50 cents or sl, how long would it be
before we were thrust back into the dark
days of a few years ago, when there
were no papers devoted to the cause and
throwing light upon the darkened way
of the laborer? It as needless to tell
you that you will not get full and fair
justice at the hands of the undeclared
press of the land. You know as well as
we that with the exception of a few
there are no papers in this much jour
naled land that care aught for you or
your interests, and a large proportion of
them are fiercely antagonistic to the
elevation or amelioration of God’s poor.
We hope, for the benefit of trutli and
justice, that you will carefully consider
this matter and decide the case of The
Enquirer upon its true merits. We
leave it with you, trusting in your good
judgment and desire to do honor where
honor is due. w.
DENVER’S CURSE.
Again we feel that we must say some
thing on the question of rents in Den
ver. Ou every hand do we hear com
plaints of the° exorbitant rates charged
for dwellings of all descriptions in the
city. The people cannot much iongei
stand this robbery. They will not stand
It. What will be the result? Such a
thinning out of our pupulation that will
prostrate Denver beyond resusitation.
Every day we meet people who say to
us, “We cannot live here unless rents
come down; wages are not anywhere
near in proportion to the cost of the
necessaries of life, and the high rents
grind us down so that we must either do
without what is needful to keep us alive
or leave the city.” Daily the number of
vacant houses is increasing, and to-day
there are enough vacant dwellings in
Denver to house the entire population
of many little eastern cities, an'd we have
been passing the same Vacant houses for
the past two months that are placarded
“for rent.” Scores of people visit these
vacant houses daily, but upon inquiring
.the amount charged for rent, are fenced
to turn away and keep up their weary
tramp over a city full of empty houses,
and they cannot afford to occupy them.
We have before called attention to the
fatal results to the city’s prosperity that
would inevitably result if rents were not
reduced, but still the extortionate rate is
maintained, and people are driven to
more reasonable localities. How long
will it be before Denver’s landlords
learn the foolishness of the policy of
“saving at the spigot and losing at the
bung-hole?”
The high rates charged is not the only
injustice and insult heaped upon non
house-holding people. The house-hold
ing aristocracy are so powerful (?) in
their position that all kinds of restric
tions are placed upon their tenants.
There are hundreds of houses not occu
pied in the city simply because appli
cants have children. The question is,
“Have you any children?” and if the
answer is “Yes,” the would-be tenant is
refused the shelter. This is a dirty, low,
contemptible principle,and he who prac
tices it deserves to be forever bereft of
the blessings of home and childish
prattle. We cau readily believe that
Denver landlords were never children
■.• - ' A
THE LABOR ENQtJIRER.
themselves; they, as a rule, are the
legitimate offspring of wolves, and were
never anything more innocent th m fierce
and ravenous cubs.
Another piece of tyranny is the re
fusal to allow tenants to cook jin some
places. Owing to the high rates charged
for dwellings proper, a great niany are
reduced to taking one or two rooms up
stairs in some business block. In a great
many cases these rooms cannot be ob
tained if the parties applying desire to
their food in them. Great God !
what next? The food is made by these
same grasping Shylocks hard to procure,
and they wish to compel the poor to eat
what little they get without cooking.
This is another wolfish trait of the land
lord. He has evidently always eaten
his meat blood raw.
We concede the right of every man
has a house to rent to choose his
tenant on the basis of hpnesty and in
tegrity. We allow him the right to re
fuse to let his property to a family that
lias the reputation of dishonesty, or of
ruthlessly damaging property ; but we
are loud in our denunciations of the in
human creature w T ho refuses to rent his
house to a man simply because God has
blessed him with children, of because he
has heen taught to cook his food before
eating it. * * 1 • . "X' j i
In the name of humanity, we call upon
the fair-minded, God-fearing citizens of
Denver to take steps towards remedying
this great evil and doing justice to an
honest, industrious people—‘the people
who are the pillars of the community’s
prosperity. Let those Who have the
welfare of the Queen City at heart move
in this matter, before the city is pros
trated and laid waste. ,
Do not call down the curses of a just
and omnipotent God upon our fair city
by remaining, quiet on this matter and
thereby driving a people who sustain
the community from our midst, and
adding one more link to.the chain that
will in the and throttle the nation and
prostrate the great republic in its own
life-blood. 4
STATE PRINTING.
Still Jhe cry is, “Incorrectly printed.”
Instead of an improvement in the char
acter of the work performed by the
Times outfit for the state, it daily grows
worse. It is a common thing for the
printing committee to report two-thirds
of a batch of bihs incorrectly printed.
The members of the senate' were very
much encouraged one day during the
past week when tfie committee arose and
reported “one correctly printed.”
On another occasion the errors were so
numerous and stupendous that the bill
containing them was referred back to
the maker. This certainly does not look
well for the cheap labor employing in
stitution which unfortunately has the
contract for doing the State work.
A contributor in this issue callsutten
tion to the assertion made by George
Clark that the persons engaged on the
work are as good workmen and receive,,
as much pay as any office in the city
gives, and calls attention to a remark
made by Dill, of the Times, that he only
paid his mfci a fraction over 18 cents
per Lour.
Dill pays for all he gets; but does the
state get what it pays for? Everybody
knows it does not. If it does, why
this continual kicking by members of
the legislature, irrespective of party?
The table of the senatorial vote pub
lished one day this week by the Times
is g, pretty fair sample of the class of
work they are capable of doing in that
starvation concern. If there is a man
under the heavens who could tell
whether that table was a 300-yards
shooting target or a Chinese wash bill,
we want his photograph, and if there is
one who can tell from the tables the
votes each candidate received he ctan
make a fortune reading Skinner Brothers
& Wright’s puzzles. If a man, calling
himself a printer were to get up such a
looking thing as that in The Labor
Enquirer office he would be beaten to
death with a roll of Deacon Van Valk
enburg’s most hypocritical sermons.
HALF A LOAF.
A resolution passed the house of rep
resentatives Friday morning instructing
the sergeant-at-arms to subscribe for a
copy of The Labor Enquirer for each
member of that body during the session.
A like resolution was introduced' in the
senate, but was tabled, owing to the idea
of some of the senators that enough had
been appropriated for the purchase of
newspapers. The expenditure would
have been very slight and it loons to us
like the economical senators could have
found a greater field than the one opened
by the introduction of the resolution.
However, we haven’t the space, time or
inclination to go down into this matter
at present. We take comfort in the
thought that we had some staunch friends
in the senate, who have placed them
selves on record as friendly disposed to
the cause of honest workingmen.
In this connection we desire to men
tion that the representative of the Times
was heard to say during the debate on
the resolution, “I hope it won’t pass ; all
that paper contains is abuse of the
Times.” The truth seems to hurt the
gentleman.
A member of the senate who met the
editor of this paper about election times
and assured him that he was with the
laboring people in any measures they
desired to introduce at this session, was
particularly conspicuous in his opposition
to the resolution —on account of the ex
pense ; about #4.50.
The Republican is very emphatically
calling upon the News to substantiate its
charge of corruption against members of
the legislature. The News has asserted
that members of the legislature have re
ceived money for their votes in the sena
torial contest. We don’t question the
truth of the News’ assertion, any more
than w T e questioned the correctness of
the chargq that the state printing was
unfairly awarded ; but we have no hopes
of it substantiating the charge. That
master reformer does not seem inclined
further towards righting the wrongs than
the simple act of making accusations.
As before stated in The Enquirer, there
is.no doubt that the News possessed the
proof of its charge relative to the state
printing steal, but for some reason it was
not forthcoming. The people of Denver
and the state are fast becoming satisfied
as to the combination existing between
the papers of Denver (excepting one)
and that these little slaps and dabs at
each* other are merely for the purpose of
mutual benefit. The editors’ mutual ad
miration society is very strong, and the
policy is, “You scratch my back, and I’ll
scratch yours.” We have no particular
interest in the senatorial contest—we
have no candidate, but we want to see
the best man chosen, whoever he may
be, but we haye very little hopes of the
people being benefitted to any great ex
tent. When the News begins to prove
some of its charges made on many sub
jects, we want to be notified. We think
we would prove an interesting witness
in one case at least.
♦
Governor Pattison, of Pennsylvania,
in his inaugural last Tuesday, very sen
sibly remarked that labor is the pillar of
the state, and disputes should find some
othfer'remedy than ‘that of the bayonet.
He also said, “The people demand that
the burdens, as well as the benefits of
the government, shall be distributed
with a fairness of justice and .impar
tiality.” We have strong hopes that the
administration of Governor Pattison will
be marked by a reform in the stave of
Pennsylvania as far as regards the deal
ings with the laboring classes.. The
working people of no other state in the
union have been subjected to more out
rages than those of Pennsylvania, and
the time when they will quietly submit
to the injustices perpetrated by a bond
holders’ militia has about gone by. The
laborers of that state have made up
their minds to be no longer fright
ened out of their rights by a handful of
slavish troops with burnished bayonets,
and if the day ever comes again when
the monarchs of that region call out the
militia to “suppress” the uprising of an
honest and indignant people, we predict
that the soil of the Keystone state will
be saturated with blood.
4 V ———————
The San Francisco Truth Bailed to put
in an appearance last week. From the
issue received this week we learn that
the cause of its non-appearance was due
to the unfortunate circumstance of a fire
in their office building. The fire occurred
January 1, and did considerable damage.
While we sympathise with the Truth in
its misfortune, we congratulate it on its
phoenix-like reappearance. In speaking
of the matter, that journal, of the tenth
instant, says:
“When the event was known in this
city we were besieged- with offers of
financial help from hundreds of sub
scribers and friends, which, however,
we were pleased to be able to cordially
decline as unnecessary. To. those faith
ful friends —many of them heretofore
personally unknown to us —we again re
turn our thanks.”
The senatorial question is taking all the
time of members of the legislature. This
is deplorable, as there are a great many
bills introduced which should become
laws, and as there seems to be nd prob
ability of the senators being chosen till
near , the close of the session, a great
many of these bills will be slighted. The
session isvshort at best, and when the
attenlion is diverted to a matter that is
of no benefit to the people, it is simply
a shame.
On Ifbruary 2 there will be issued in
New York City the first number of a
journal to be called The Furniture Work
ers’ Journal. It will be issued semi
monthly, aritl will be devoted to the
interests of labor generally and of the
: ; : i ■ ! J/l
furniture workers particularly. We will
be glad to welcome the Journal. Still
they come. .
It is rumored that the tables of the
vote for United Stated senator which
appeared in Tuesday’s Times are to be
stereotyped and sent to Round’s Cabinet
as specimens of the giant strides the art
preservative is making in tile far west.
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”
Reverend gentlemen who enter the
political arena are not bound by any
promises made on the stump, bu.t some
of their deceived and disappointed con
stituents can take a little cold consola
tion in reflecting on the fate of Judas
Iscariot, and . the fact that all of the so
called Christian preachers do not climb
the goldfen stairs. ;
George T. Clark and Dill, of thehard-
Timfes, don't seem to agree as to the
wages paid the incompetent workmen
on the state work. ,
- A resident of Sterling, Weld county,
furnishes a communication for this issue
which may be of interest to one of our
law makers.
Just as we go to press, a telegram from
our agent at Canon City reaches us, as
suring us of strong support in that place.
Don’t fail to read the article on another*
page in this issue entitled “A True
Woman.” It is well worth perusal.
Oh, ye gods! what next? Merlin
jones is going to start a temperance
paper.
The thermometer Friday morning
markfed 20° below Albuquerque.
The Dead Stowaway.
“Washed up on the beach by the waves lay
the body of a stowaway, looking horridly
brutal in its rags, and sought and cared for
by no one.”—Report of. a Steamship Wreck.
i * . ‘ •;
He lay on the beach, just out of the reach
Of waves that had cast him by;
With fingers grim they reached for him,
As often as they came nigh.
The shore-face brown had a surly frown,
And glanced at the dancing sea,
As if to say, “Take back the clay
You tossed this morning at me.”
Great fragments rude, by the shipwreck
strewed,
Had found by this wreck a place;
He had grasped them tight, and hope-strewn
fright
Sat still on the bloated face.
Battered and bruised, forever abused,
He lay by the heartless sea,
As if Heaven’s aid had never been made
For a villain such as he.
The fetter’s mark lay heavy and dark
Around the pulseless wrists; •*
The hardened scar of many a war *
Clung yet to the drooping fists.
The soul’s disgrace across that face
Had built an iron track;
The half-healed gash.of the jailman’s lash
Helped cover the brawny back.
The blood, that flowed in a crimson road
From a deep wound in his head,
Had felt fierce pjangs from the poison-fangs
Of those who l;is young life fed;
Cursed from the very beginning
With deeds thajt others had dope,
“More sinned against than sinning”—
And so is many a one! £- \
He had never learned save what had turned
The steps of his life amiss.;
He never knew a hand-grasp true,
Or the thrill of a virtuous kiss,
’Twas turned like a flood through his young
blood,
And poisoned every vein,
That wrong is right, that law is spite,
And theft but honest gain.
The seeds were grown that had long been
sown -
By the heart of a murderous sire;
Disease and shame, and blood aflame
With thirst for the fountains of tire.
Battered and bruised, forever abused,
He lay by the moaning sea.
As if Heaven’s aid were even afraid
Of a villain such as lie. i
As he lay aloue, like a sparrow prone,
An angel wandered nigh;
A look she cast over that dark past,
And tears came to her eye.
She bent by the dead and tenderly said:
“Poor child, yofi went astray;
Your heart and mind were both bom blind—
No wonderthey lost their way 1
Angels I know had fallen as low
With such a disfnal chance.
Your heart was ironed, your soul environed,
You were barred of all advance!
Cursed from the iery beginning
With deeds that, others have done,
‘More sinned agaipskthan sinning’—
And so is many a one I”
-Will Carleton, in Harper’s Weekly.
|" _
Mr. E. P. McPhilomyqf Denver, rep
resenting The Labor Enquirer, of that
city paid the Democrat a very pl eaß ant
visit last evening. The Labor Enquirer,
as its name indicates, is a weekly journal
devoted to the interests of the working
m*n,,a°d 1° “ dißcussion of all subjects
vanco th i h° educate ’ ele vate and ad
vance the laboring classes.” As a rule
laboring men and mechanics do not
properly recognize and support journals
LeadYille Demo "rat P ros P““g.-
~-h •r :' . ..-i-V- .