The Labor enquirer. [volume], March 07, 1885, Image 1

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

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VOLUME V.-NO. 10.
LABADIE'S LESSONS.
They Were Learned Principally
in the School of Every-
Day Life.
Seme Are Sad and Contain Tales
of Misery, Star ration and
1- Despair.
Others on the Seierce oi Government,
the Tkleg Wo’re Burdened
With.
“ %
Private Control «( leuMl, Money mi
Tnuuptrtiiion If oat bt Abeluhed,
ra. a.* wm e.'«e.y.
For The Enquirer.
You ask me to write something for
your paper,-that brave and inquisitive
paper of yours, but I assure you I feel
to-night more like -running aranck of
every opposition to the most radical
views that have ever beer expressed on
the labor question than like arguing it
from an ethical standpoint. My social
surroundings afosnch as to make me
feel bitter, very bitter, against the up
holders of the present monstrously un
just svstem of distributing wealth. On
every hand I see my comrades walk the
streets day after day looking for work,
and their familiesiitarviog to death. This
is no metaphorical figure-, but an actu
ality. Don’t you believe it? Let me
tell you some sad, sad tales. These tales
that come to me almost every dav make
my heart leap to my throat and strongly
impel me to urge the complete exter
ruination of the rich and powerful
by any and every means that may
come within onr reach. But I know that,
no matter how many rich and powerful
are killed, so long as the social running
gear is all out of order just-so long will
we poor fools be crashed in the
machinery ; and no matter if they are
put out of the wav, the poor and weak
are not now ready or capable of estnb
.isbi-fltoister system. Economic ed.n
catioirmost go on some time yet.
But 1 must tell you: The other day
a couple of friends of mine in Detroit
tyent to see a member of the order whom
they heard was sick,-and they found him
in sorry plight indeed. He is a painter
and a fair workman. He has been out of
work for months. He has a wife and
two or three children. When the vis
itors entered the irohfroora they found
nothing but the bare wallB; everything
had been sold for food and fuel. In the
next room they found the family hug
ging the stove,-in which there were only
a few coals of fire, and these were pushed
over to one side of the stove next to
which shivered a poor little hunch
backed invalid girl, pale and thin. The
man stared at the visitors with eyes
bulging out of his head like two glass
balfs, He did not know them, and he
uttered no intelligible sound. Inquiry
revealed the fact that they had about a
quart of flour and half a dozen potatoes
in the house; that they bad had a meal
of victuals the day before, and were sav
ing the flour and potatoes for a meal pn
the morrow. The wife is a neat, retiring
woman, who every now and then earned
a little money a; washing, but since her
husband’s sickness she had been com
pelled to stay at homo and watch him.
Starvation had dementated the man !
A few days before he had started out of
the house “to go to the assembly meet
ing,” as he said, with nothing on hut his
stockings, drawers and overcoat, and the
thermometer f.t about eight degrees
below zero. It was with some difliculty
they persuaded him to go back into the
house. One oi' the visitors gave the
woman $2, and then got some coni and
built a good fire- and made things a little
more comfortable. He then went to
the poor commissioner’s and related to
him the facts and urged that this case be
attended to immediately. He was some
what astonished to learn that this was
not-an exceptional case this winter. The
poor commissioner’s office was crowded
with big, able-oodied men waiting for
charitv. The next day this friend wem
back to the painter's and found that food
and fuel had produced quite a change in
the whole family, The man was feeling
better and recognize! those about him
and converted rationally; the wife was
busving herself about the house, and the
children looked brighter and smiling.
This family’s prospects in life are not of
the most encouraging, are they?
Here’s another : A printer fractured
his hip and wns usable," of course, to
work and earn a living. His family man
aged somehow or other to get along so
far as eatables, were concerned, but they
were unable to pay their rent. A few
weeks ago the landlord called for his
rent, and wh<-n he fonud he could not
collect it he grew so angry that he picked
the man up off the bed and threw him
bodily out of doom, breaking his hip
over again, and he has lain in a critical
condition ever since.
And this is not all: A little girl not
long ago went to the door of a house in
Detroit, and when Che folks went to the
door she said: "My pa is dead.” She
was asked who her father was. She told
them, and asked whether somebody
would come ever to their house. The man
■of the house went over there and, sure
enough, there lay the father dead, The
dead man was laid out, and, supposing
that was all that was wanted of him, the
neighbor went aw*y. Five days after
wards he learned that the man was not
THE LABOR ENQUIRER.
- p— : ——
yet buried, and then tlie truth came to
light that death was caused by starva
tion ; and that the family also were there
nearly dead from starvation. The woman
was lying on a bed tvith a new-born
babe, and nothing over them but a thin
quilt and no fire in the house. The
neighbors were notified and food and
fuel brought in, the man buried, and the’
family put in tolerably comfortable cir
-1 cnmstances.
I need not give you the details of a
cigarmaker’s femily living two weeks on
corn meal and water -of a laborer having
no wood or coal in his house for three
days, during the coldest part of this
winter, and the many, many cases of
destitution that I hear abeut
This ia a glorious country of ours. We
ought to have more "protection” from
the “pauper” labor of Europe, Ah, hut
these are tbeUmee that make a man's
heart bieed! • This la the kind of “civil
ization” that bleeds Revolutionists and
makes human life cheap indeed!
And is there no remedy for all this
misery and woe? I believe there is.
Comrade Bray, of Pontiac, asked John
Swinton some time alto to give us some
remedy for these social ills, and farther
asks, “What is the ultimate ?” When we
begin to discuss remedies we find that
even those who have devoted lots of
time to the study of social science differ
as widely as the poles. I, too, believe
we ought to discuss remedies, but I do
not forget that we are not all world
builders. The reason why we have not
made more rapid progress m the con
struction of a new social system is be
cause it had first to be shown that in
justice was done under the present one.
rt is the work of some of our brightest
minds to pull down existing social insti
tutions and remove the rottenness that
lays in their foundations. It is the work
of others to prepare new materials and
plans for the new structure. John Swin
ton is a destructionist. He takes up his
intellectual hammer and smashes into
smithereens the oocial idols of to-day
He is doing a great good in showing .up
the deplorable condition ofthings. There
are thousands, aye; millions, even in the
United States, who do not yet compre
hend that things are in a deplorable
condition. Why, only a short time ago,
I heard a printer say, (and one of those
printers, too, who prates about printers
being "the most intelligent class of
mechanics,”) that "Capital has a right to
rule Labor.” It is this kind of cattle
who have the bUnd-staggers that must
be cured before any noticeable construct
ive movement can be made; and before
they can be treated for their blindness,
they must be made cognizant of the fact
that, they are blind. Do you suppose the
great majority of the miners know that
morally they have just as much right to
the mines as those who call themselves
the mine'owners? Do the great majority
of working people yet know that they
have an equal right with the rich to the
gifts of nature? Manifestly they do’not,
and until they have some notion that
the present property system is wrong,
until their faith is shaken in the per
fectness of existing social institutions,
there is plenty of room fir such stinging
sarcasm, such bold denial of assumed
rights, such vigorous denunciations of
social wrongs, such pithy, cutting, keen
and striking things as appear in John
Swinton’s Paper every week. I heartily
wish we had a thousand just like it and
The Enquirer scattered throughout this
country. Show a man that hei is being
wronged, and the way to right that
wrong is half learned. I know that
Comrade Bray is anxious to see some of
liis constructive ideas put into practice.
A man who has been a social reformer
for over fify years and who has seen the
condition of the masses grow worse and
worse year by year instead of better may
welhfeel impatient to see some social
structure Teared that will guarantee to
the laborer the fruits of his toil. But.
then, “What is the ultimate?” That is
a pertinent question. It involves the
whole subject of social science. It might
be answered briefly: To establish justice.
Ah! but bow? More pertinent still.
Listen: For thousands of years men
have been ruled by government, ostensi
blv for the purpose of preserving their
rights. But thev are, possibly as far
from their rights to day as they ever
were. It ■ undoubtedly ia a fact that
• i here is more misery and poverty in the
worhfto dav than there ever were be
fore; and yet the world never was be
fore so loaded down with wealth and
uever was so much governed. Evidently
government has failed to accomplish
the object sought. May there not l>e
some truth in the charge that govern
- pient is a trick whereby the crafty aud
• cunning absorb the substance of the
- honest and unsuspicious ? And yet I can
not see my way clear to the Anarchist’s
ideal system of society in which govern
i ment shall be eliminated entirely. I
hate government as much as anybody,
but to look for the time when it will not
i exist at all is, it seemß to me, like look
i ing for the time Herbert Spencer tells us
is possible when evil as a factor in
human nature will be totally eliminated.
, But, after all, are not all human institu
i tions in the long run bnt the reflection of
, the will of the people ? Is it possible for
s any Institution to exist that is. not up-
I held by the great body of the people ? Is
- n ot the Russian government the ideal of
i the brutal and ignorant Russian peas
■ antrv ? Wouldn’t nine out of every ten
i Englishmen lay down his life for his
[ country and his pueen ? And how great
| a proportion of Americans question the
■ perfectness of this government? An old
; soldier told me once when talking of a
DENVER, I HI 111 l \ 111 il 111 II I
- pension he was expecting—but never
got—that tlie government was good and
wouldn’t do anything wrong. And be
was considerably shocked when I sug
gested that I had seen very little it bad
done that was not wrong. Now, as gov
ernment doeeso few things right, what
, is the best and most reasonable thing,
for us to do in the matter? My idea is
that we should reduce its functions to the
fewest possible. As you know, my mind
has changed considerably on this joint
within the last two years. I did think
once that the remedy for this inequality
| was for the state to take control, not only
! of natural resources, but of capital as
well. My actual experience with poli
ticians and office-holders hss given me
a very poor opinion of state institutions
and has set me positively against them.
rifit and mean little ctiwes that worm
themselves into the employ of the state
is really remarkable. Out of the 200 or
300 that are connected one way and an
other with the state government of
Michigan, not 10 per cent of them are
such as you would employ in the same
kind of work were you to pay'them out
of your own private purse. Tney are
employed, the most of them, because
they or some of their relatives can
manipulate caucusses and conventions
and who have adhered to the party, right
or wrone. Their whole and sole object
is to get an office under the government
and then work it for all it is worth.
There are not half a dozen in the whole
lot but think that “these labor dema
gogues” ought to be put in prison. Now,
the more you enlarge the functions of
government, the more power you put in
the hands of these little political pimps
the worse off we are in the end. Look
at the eight-hour movement as an ex
ample. Workingmen agitated for years
to have the national government estab
lish’an eight hour work day in its own
establishments, “so as to set an example
for private employers and workingmen
outside of govern ment employ.” Well,
the eight hour-law was nassed, and those
who had political influence enough to
get to work for the government got foe
benefit of it, not those whose energies
and ceaseless agitation had brought it
about. You remembers few years ago
an eiglit.-hour committee was stationed
at-Washington to push eightrhour legis
lation further. This committee was sup
ported by contributions from labor or
ganizations and self-sacrificing agitators,
but do you suppose those who were
profiting by theeight hour law gave any
thing to the support of that committee?
I get i’t directly from a member of that
committee that the beneficiaries of the
eight-honr law never gave a cent, to
wards the support of the committee or
to the agitation. And not only this;
but by reducing the hours, there was
given the heads of departments an ex
cuse for employing more of their hench
men to assess for political purposes. I
am creditably informed that in this
state during the last campaign nearly all
the clerks and other employee were
assessed, and the next flionth their sala
ries were raised the amount of the
assessment. A gentleman also told me
that a friend of his who is a postmaster
was surprised to get $450 with the news
to him that this was for clerk hire. A
few days after he was assessed $450 for
political purposes. Another postmaster
. was allowed so much for clerk hire. He
hired boys and cheap men and put the
balance in his pocket.
Where is the. government institution
that is not reeking with corruption?
One would naturally suppose that it
would not cost as much per capita to
govern 10,000 people as it would 1,000.
Look at the expenses of governmeut and
you will find that as population increases
the government expenses to each person
increases. In view of these alarming
facts What is the plain path for labor
reformers to pursue ? To turn our backs
upon the governmental idea and put
more dependence in our own efforts for
our own economic and social liberation.
To tell you the truth, lam getting tired
agitating for eight hours, lien laws, mine
and factory laws, school laws, child labor
laws, and a lot of other things that we
have Sfrent our energies in advocting.
Let us not. waste -the best of our lives
striving for those things that even were
we to get would leave us but very little
better off than we are now. Let us bend
every effort to the land, money and
transportation questions. These, it seems
to me, are the three essentials. If we
abolish land monopoly, establish an
equitablesystem of exchange, and reduce
freight and passenger traffic to cost, all
the other things we ask for we can put
into operations ourselves without the
intervention of government or even “by
vonr leave.” Joseph A. Labadie.
Lansing, Michigan, Feb. 15.
- c '
If you want .a good labor news paper
subscribe for John Swinton’a Paper. If
you want a good labor principles paper
subscribe for The Labor Enquirer. The
one gives the wrongs of the wageworkers;
the other shows the means by which
the wroDgs can be prevented. Subscribe
' for them both, and tlien you can choose
for yourself.—Detroit Labor Leaf.
A female employe of Gale Bros, at
1 their scab shop at Exeter, New Hamp
f shire, earned one forenoon 60 tents, an
- unusual thing in that Bhop, and the firm
1 immediately cat feer wages down, saying
i that 60 cents in a forenoon was more
t than any woman ought to earn.
i
I “Whales eat big fish; big fish eat little
i1 fish; little fish eat mud.”
“WHO WOULD BE. FRE JfPjjlSgHH &§£&THE BLOW I"
(???)
An
Explan&itf ' J
Wealth mi >
Why the
ktt* * {
The
- 9
Amt Sake* • PM* ttr UhMrtr,
. —-* ’ _ - ~’■ ■ -
Rqulltjr, Fraternity.
Fellow Workmen :
All you who wofk for wages, whether in the
factory or at the desk, in the mine or be
hind the oonnter.
We, the International Workmen’s
Association, an association organized in
North and South Amesica, in Europe
and in every English colony, number
ing at the lowest computation 600,000,
and having for its sole object the rescue
of the working classes from their posi
tion of machine slaves and disinherited
dependents, send you this. We ask you
to, at least, give it a perusal as the joint
production of those who deem them
selves your brother slaves, and who for
years - past have studied with aching
heads and hearts, what the rich ironi
eallv call our civilization, but which is
in reality a state of absolute barbarism,
in which a favored few roll in riches,
and the masses are daily sunk more
deeply in the slough of a hopeless pov
erty. That, as is the case in every
country under odr present,social System,
each new invention and labor-saving
device should but render our lot more
unendurable and our very existence
more precarious, appears to us an ab
surdity which will exist so long, and
only so long, as the working classes re
fuse to look the matter squarely in the
face, and to go fearlessly to the bottom
of the whole question. If we, the im
mense majority, allow ourselves to be
frightened from a courageous examina
tion of the whole question by the cries
of “Communism” and "Socialism” raised
by the rich (who are, and must be under
the present system, our enemies, since
their intereeU- i
ours), we shall remtitt ■,'fowßF'‘iliVee—
and shall deserve to so remain. We
proceed to lay the following points be
fore you for consideration :
We believe in Liberty, Equality and
Fraternity, as the laws of nature, but we
believe in realizing them as-actual facts
and not as mere names for millionaires
to conjure with. We say, moreover, that
until we succeed in securing perfect
economic liberty, absolute economic ,
equality, and the acceptation of frater
nity as the rule of all production and
distribution, instead of the’cut-throat
method of open' competition now in
vogue, there will be no happiness for
mankind at large, no hope of relief for
the disinherited poor. We say further ,
that every invention and improvement ,
will, under our present system, bring
the toiling masses, the producers, nearer
and nearer to starvation’s dpor, and we
here remind you that the tendency of
all labor-saving machinery is to force
the masses into cities where, when
times are bad and factories and work
shops closed, they can be, and are
starved like rats in a trap. Do you sup
pose that we advocate the destruction of
machinery, and a recurrence to the old
fashioned methods of production ? We
should indeed be the idiots which the
capitalists, on the platform and in the
columns of their press, would fain make
you believe us, if we attempted to set
back the hand of time in such a fashion.
On the contrary as a party we fully
recognize that man isdistingnisbed from
the rest uf the animal creation by his
inventive faculty, and that if all. Known
inyentions were to morrow swept from
the face of the earth, he would immedi
ately proceed them. We
go further; we desire here to state dis
tinctly our fixed conviction that the con
stantly repeated doctrine that manual
labor is in itself a blessing and a pleas
ure is a direct lie, forged by the well-ti
do classes, who desire that we should di
al I the work that they themselves may,
while living in idleness, roll- in luxury.
We believe that it is man’s mission, as
be advances in intellect and civilization,
to gain so vast a command over the
forces of nature, such as steam, electric
ity and the.like, that all heavy, manual
labor will be hnnecessary and therefore
abolished. That is the situation which
we are every day approaching, and it is
only the cheapness of labor which re
tards the further development of tne
adoption of machinery; and this, as an
actual fact, we desire particularly to im
press upon your minds.
This country, for instance, now heads
the world in the use of labor-saving ma
chinery, simply because labor here ex
tracts a higher wqge for ifij services than
in the older countries; machinery in
China on the other hand is little used
because labor can be had for a ridicu
lously small sum. Here, then, is to be
seen the first grave result springing from
the fatal mistake of entrusting to few
what nature meant fog all; of giving the
key of all wealth, mankind’s only work
ing tool, the boil, into the hands of a
(benefit of aIL The captains of mankind,
1 who, monopolizing tkat upon and by
I Which alone weean live* have by that
|very fact oar Hvee and fortunes abeo-
Untoiy at tbeir own diepoeal, are able to
mWlfi as, and do persistently place ns,
I'Upon the boras <rf this dilemma, vis.:'
TO* must work at snch wages as thev
flt to give us, or the machine
MmS Safe oar work. Upon the Padfle
I Coast you cry out loudly (and we would
there remind yon that crying never
|yat wned|ied evil) against befog
deeply sympathise, hat we desire to
point oat clearly, once and for all, that it
is competition with the machine that is
killing our occupation, and yearly flood
ing the country with tramps.
This, mind you, is a condition of af
fairs bound to grow from bad to worse,
and in t\ie immediate future, when elec
tricity shall, have taken the place of
steam, the necessaries of life will be
produced with little or no manual exer
tion. We Bhall then starve 1 What!
'starve when all our wants can be easily
supplied! starve when we have at last
discovered the secret of making nature
disgorge her inmost treasures! Yes, as
suredly, we shall starve, for there will
be no work for us to do, and having no
work we shall have no money, and how
ever cheaply and easily food may be pro
cured, our masters will not give it- to us
for nothing. Can vou not see that al
ready this crisis is upon us? Can yon
not see that in every country the food is
raised in the rural districts by machinery,
requiring little manual labor, and that
the masses are driven into cities and
crowded into factories to engage in the
production of articles of luxury and fancy
hi which they can take no interest, since’
they are destined to tiave no share in the
enjoyment. of them when produced.
You keep track of the constantly recur
ring commercial panics when factories
and machine shops are closed, and thous
ands thrown upon the streets. You can
ndt help keeping track of them since
you are the ones that suffer horribly and
inexpressibly. Answer then, do you not
know that these panics keep recurring at
shorter and shorter intervals ? A cpm
mercial panic in England would to-mor
row close work-shop after work-shop in
rurrmiJßtnjii I mil—^n«ii
one, who takes the trouble to investigate
and think upon the subject that we suf
fer so fearfully, because our vaunted civ
ilization is entirely one-sided, because
we are all toiliug in the production of
useless articles which neither feed nor
clothe ourselves, our wives or children,
and that, thanks to the rapidity with
which machinery works, the supply is
constantly in excess of the demand. We
spoke just now of the tendency of mod
ern civilization to drive us in masses into
tfie great cities, where in times of com
mercial depression we are starved like
rats in traps, and we wish to emphasize
by repetition that remark in connection
with the African savage. If our materi
al well-being depends, and who can
doubt it, upon our conquest oyer nature,
how comes it that, with all onr modern
appliances, the position of'thousands of
the working classes in our large cities is
more pecarious than that of the Bedouin
scouring the barren desert of Africa ?
Such however is undoubtedly the case.
Among savage nations, rude as their im
plements are and imperfect as their acts,
starvation is absolutely unknown-; but
the working man out of employment in
any one of our big cities may, and fre
quently does, perish of sheer want. Sta
tistics show us clearly that, in Europe
alone, bad food and insufficient clothing
and housing kill annually ten millions,
and in such a city as London the death
rate in some of the poorer parishes is six
times as great as in those where the well
to do reside. Whence arises this appall
ing sacrifice of life, to what causes is this
miserable tragedy of want driving its
victims into a premature grave to be
traced? Simply to this fact that, instead
Of managing our own affaire ourselves,
producing the necessaries we are in want
of first, and afterwards, whatever luxur
ies our higher tastes may call tor, we
have given onr destinies into the hands
of a limited class who dictate upon wliat
our energies shall be employed, and re
fuse to employ us when they can no
longer derive a profit from our labors.
What would be the fate of a savage chief
tain who, where hie people wanted food,
should insist upon setting them to dig
for diamonds instead of sending them
upon the chase, and should thereby
brine starvation upon bis tribe? Yet
this is what to-day our capitalists and
manufacturers are doing, this is precise
ly the way in which they treat and
starve us. To our appeals for all the
prime necessities of life and health,
which, if permitted so to do, we should
and would produce in plenty, they reply
by setting us the task of prodneing lux
uries which the rich, and the rich alone,
enjoy. They then have the audacity to
pose as philanthropists for providing us
with workyas if work itself was all we
wanted. Is it not palpable to the most
shallow pates that work is bat the means
to the end, the providing of onr wants,
and that labor bestowed upon articles
which we do not require is worse than
wasted? To boast of liberty in a coun
try where a man is forced to accept what
ever task his masters may see fit to set
r him, is to deliberately abut one’s eyee to
i facts, and to vapor like a fool.
I At pneent, though oar interests in
every country are identical, we are en
. gaged in a mad competition with all onr
, neighbors. It fohtten not where you
live, von will find thepeeple of that coun
.trr toasting that their exports are on the
. increase and that they are beating their
; rivals in foe nee. We invite von to a
. careftil investigation of this subject, ines-
I mach as foe politicians, and. economists,
. who think that ofor present system ia
, perisetfop itaelL are never weary of urg
jj of their respective nations
By far the greater portion of the im
ports of every country consists of articles
i for which there is only a sale among the
rich, and in which the working classes
have no share, though they produced foe
very goods with which such articles
were purchased.
The rule of any special class, being a
’ direct violation of that natural law by
which all men are created equal, gives
rise to many which we se
lect two for your consideration. The
first is that, under our present system,
the harder we work the poorer we be
come, and of the truth of this absurdity
a moment’s reflection will convince you.
What is it that causes commercial panics,
and the shutting down of factories, bul a
glut, of goods in the market? It follows
therefore that the more we labor and
produce, the more quickly we glut the
market and throw ourselves out of work.
The second absurdity arising from oui
present unnatural social system is that
thrifty habits upon our part, and the
cheapening of the necessaries of life, d>
but aggravate our misery. As proof oi
this we have only to remind vou that,
in the gospel of political economy by
’ which the wealthy swear, the .natural
wage of labor is said to be the lowest
amount upon which the laborer will con
sent to live. Yes, it is an absolute fact
that if to-morrow any large number of
us were to so lower our standard of living
that we could exist upon a quarter of a
dollar a day, for a quarter of a dollar we
should all have to work, That is how
the Chinaman and the Hungarian beat
us out of the field at first and reduced
our wages to the level of theirs in the
long run. But you think that; if bread and
meat were only cheaper, and rents reduc
iwMWTawaiMii ■ mr
Are you so blind as to be triable to see
thatj df all these necessaries were to be
had for ten cents a day, there would be
thousands ready to work for that amount,
and that to ten cents the wages of you
would come ? The day-laborer in India
gets but five dollars a year for his work,
because he can live in that hot climate
upon rice alone, and his clothing is to be
had for a few cents, therefore, five dol
lars being the sum required to keep him
alive, five dollars is ail that he receives. ;
We need not remind you that the true
law of wages is that, to the laborer belong
all.the fruits of his toil; we have unfor
tunately to remind millions of brothers,
in their benighted ignorance, that na
ture’s final law is that whoever owns her 1
is lord and master, and that those who 1
have, like cowards, given up their birth i
right must be inevitably his slaves. This
no human institution can over-ride, n<> ,
false charity alleviate; it is the fixed, un
alterable law of .the unj verse itself.
You enquire, then, how you may im
prove your lot, that, though suffering
yourselves, your children may hereafter
reap tlie benefit of civilization. You ask
whether we, as an association, will* not
aid you in your trades onions and strikes,
for- more often than not your efforts in
this direction have but added to your
burdene. In your every fight against
those whom we recognize as being, under
our present system, of necessity youi
enemies, we will assist vou, but we tell
you frankly why. We have not the
faintest hope that the disinherited can
ever, by mere refusal to work, perma
nently better their condition. So long
as the raw material, the soil, which
nature meant for all, and so long as tlie
products which we ouraelves liavi
created, are permitted to remain in - tbc
hands of a limited class?, that 'class ol
necessity bolds our lives in the hollow oi
its hand. Do vou know that since the
beginning of this century we have been
perpetually jinking, and what is the re
mit? Let the women and children en
gaged in the Baltic Mills in Connecticut,,
the miners of Pennsylvania with their
65 cents a day, the “fringeof unemployed
labor” that swarms in the alleys of every
large city, answer I Moreover, aB often
as not, yon do but play yonr masters’
game, since by abstaining from produc
tion vou raise the prices of the goods
already produced. Taking a view of
trades unions and other kindred organi
zations which attempt to check theover
crowdiug of any particular trade, what
does their work amount to? Granting
that, under favorable circumstances,
they may, by limiting numbers, secure a
trifling rise in wages, what is the effect
npon thennadmitted.ypur brother work
man, whose cause is identical with yours
and whose interests should be guarded
as jealously as your own ? Is it not pal
pable that you force them to starvation ?
Is it not notorious that there are always
members willing to face the hatred of the
union men, and even to risk death at
their hands, for accepting work, because
work means bread ?
[Continued on fourth page.]
• - ’ - -
HIGH EXPLOSIVES.
■V 1-! • ' ’
V i
How to Property Nitre-
Glycerin#---The Sdeitee of
The King-Killer, that is as Simple
as Oleomargarine, When Ton
Know How.
SStEL* jgft; i
| and stoef an? metals of opposite dertrtirt
character, is less liable to explosion that
common gun powder. ’ -
Commercial glycerine Is an amber, or
brownish colored oil or syrup, the color de
pendent upon the small amount of carbona
tion fumes, or carbonized matter in if. It
has a sweetish tasfe, somewhat similar to
glucose and a slightly burnt taste. It is
nitrized by means of nitrile acid- with an
admixture of sulphuric acid to intensify the
action of the nitric.
Take an iron or glass vessel and suspend it
in a tub, vat or circulating bath, or in a pack
of ice to reduce the temperature which rises
as tne glycerine is added. Take sulphuric
acid at 66 degrees gravity, or as near that
gravity as can be procured. If there is a
pboice of samples give the preference to the
one containing the most nitre. Tlijs can be
tested as follows: Place the various samples
in test tubes, and pour slowly upon tlie top
of each about 1-8 of an inch of a solution of
sulphate of iron. The sample containing the
most nitre will almost Immediately show a
Dlack line at the junctiuu of the liquids, aud
shortly afterward it will begin to assume a
reddish color, and if much nitre exist it will
all get the color of raspberry syrup, some
times giving off nitrous fumes readily dis
tinguished both by smell aud color,
To the sulphuric-acid add nitric acid of aa
near 90 degrees gravity as can be procured.
Should there be a chlorine or lij dro-chlorine
acid as impurities in the nitre, it is not very
objectionable, and no test for such impurity
is necessary. The proportions of
acids are somewhat different with different
manufacturers of nitro-glycerine, but the va
riation is slight, depending upon difference
in gravities of acids and methods of manu
facture, i. e , pots, stirrers, etc. But the best
practical proportion, all things considered, is
to one part of nitric acid, one and 77-100 sul
phuric acid. And of this mixed acid nine
and 1-0 pounds to one pound ot glycerine
ought to produce two pounds of nitro glyc
erine-
The mixed acid shoujd be put in the iron
pot or glass vessel and a stirrer (oontlimoot
as to make a downward current in tlie center '
leaving it to rise again at the sides, thus mak
ing a complete circulation of the acid, and
presenting as much surface, of acid to the
glycerine as possible. The glycerine in a
vessel of any character which lias a faucit, is
slowly dripped into the acid somewhere with
in the range of. the stirrer. The introduc
tion of the glycerine will raise tlie tempera
ture of the acid and a small laboratory ther
mometer should be suspended with the bulb
in the pot. The temperature should never be
allowed to get higher than 80 degrees Fah
renheit, and it with ice or cold water circu
lating outside the pot the temperature can be
kept below 70 or 60 degrees you will get an
increased yield of nitro-glycerine and a bet
ter sample.
After all the glycerine has been run Into /
tbe pot, continue the stirring until by the /
rapid fall in the temperature you are told
that the chemical change is coming to or has
already arrived at a stand-still, whepr the
whole contents of the pot can be poui ed most
carefully luto a tub of water of about ten
times its bulk. In order to drowjgor weaken
the acid it is best to stir it some* which will
prevent the acid of heavier gravity from set
tling to the bottom and nog - becoming weak
ened. /
After the tub has setffed draw off from the
bottom the nitro-glycerine. It is best to give
tlie tub a sloping bottom towards the draw
off cock. To further destroy and neutralize
the remaining'acid, it is the custom to give
it two or tijrce baths in a solution of salsoda
or some alkalie. The result is
liitro-giycerine.
There is small danger of an explosion of
nUro-glvcerine from flie, as it simply burns
-With a fierce hissing flame, but a turning
fork in vibration will set it off, ora blow of
80 pounds and sometimes le*s, especially if it
is iron to iron. Tne simple rubbiug of the
edges of two irons will often explode it, or a
heavy, sharp jar. It is best to handle it in
wooden vessels or paper .buckets, aud to ex
clude all metals from where the compound is .
as much as possible.
Nitro-glvceriiie powder, giant powder,
dynamite, etc., are conqiounds of uttro-glycep
ineaml some absorbents, sometimes only in
ert absorbents, aud in high grade powders
active absorbents, or tiiose that under the
immense pressure of tlie explosion of the
mtro-giyceribe become themselves explos
ives and give results as great as their total
Of gross weightof nitro-glycerine, aud in some
exceptional compounds greater. Tlie absorb
ents m<>st in use are wood-pulp and starch,
wood-pulp and kale magne-ia. wood-pulp and
chlorate of pottass and an unending variety.
Tou can take wood-pulp witli about ten or
fifteen pet cent of starch, to which is added
in the mixing tub or trough, from ten to thirty
percent of nitre, very dry and ground fine, or
saltpetre. To this is added from twenty to
eighty per ceht,of nitro-glycerine, according
to the power you wish to give your explostve. * ’
Seventy to seventy-five per cent is about as
high a percentage of hitro-glycerine as is prac
ticable, and fifty ner cent about as low as
should begone for a high explosive.
All tbe percentages mentioned of acid, ekv -
are by weight, not bulk. \
DYNAMITE.
The manufaeture of dynamite, which waa
Invented ten years ago. Is now an Important
industry in Great Hritain, where a large
amount of capital is Invested In It.. The three
factories there turn ont annuaty 2,000 tons of
dynamite, valued at *1,000,000. But there are
dynamite factories also in Germany, France,
Italy and Spaen; and the largest in the world
is the German Rhenish company, withan
annual outpui of 2LSOU tons. Large quantities
of dynamite, which sells at from f7oWto I*oo a j
ton, is exported from Europe to the Unit'd . j
States; the trade (says Bradstreel's) is in its -I
infancy, and in course of time it maybe 'j
expected to cover a wider area and 'to as- \.
sume much larger dimensions.