The Labor enquirer. [volume], February 06, 1886, Image 1

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

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VOLUME VI.—NO. 6.
PRACTICAL MEN.
A Call for Sucfi is Simply an
Inquiry as to What is
Practicable.
A Criticism of Tiews by one Who
Believes in Magnanimity
in All Discussions.
» |
Three Questions Based Upon the Opin
ion That no Single Agency can Ac
complish the Bevolntion.
For the Enquirer.
“Practical men wanted” is, I observe,
the head line of “Sarassa’s” open letter,
and a sufficiently attractive title it is
until one reflects that the object of every
earnest worker in the labor movement
is neither more or less than to find out
what is really practical. The issue that
contains this oDen letter (in the course
of which the writer brands the “fearless,
outspoken John Swinton” as an ntterer
of fallacies; speaks of a peaceful, indus
trial Revolution, and remarks that the
Anarchists alone have seen the folly of
aiming at political influence), also con
tains a summary by “Zeno” of the An
archiets’ Revolutionary creed, in which
all who contribute to The Enquirer, or
for that matter the Alarm, are classed
among the weak spirits "who prattle in
meetings or as writersa powerful plea
by the same writer in favor of the bal
lot, and an article on proportional rep
resentation by Mr. Alfred Cridge who
considers all other subjects as “compar
atively superficial issues.” Inasmuch as
the practical men are they who adopt
only a practical coarse, it is at once ap
parent that a call for practical men is bat
another way of inquiring what is prac
tical.
If the ballot in the hands of the wage
slave is a delusion, and if it is true that
those who are economically slaves can
not be politically free, Messrs. Cridge
and "Zeno” are not practical men; if on
the-other hand force is distinctly reac
tionary, and will but involve us in a
greater tvranny, the best use force can
be put to is to apply it to the authors
and advocates of “the groundwork of
the Social Revolution ;” as being not
merely useless, but most dangerously
impractical. “Sarassa” himeelf, calling
aloud for “practical men,” would have
the workers of the world learn the art
of aggregating wealth in their own
hands, and considers that in our land a
peaceful, industrious Revolution has
been rendered possible by the existing
laws/or corporations %
For'my part, during a two years’ resi
dence in California I have been assidu
ously gazing at the spectacle of a state,
which may be regarded as a unit in its
hatred of a certain railroad corporation,
endeavoring to force that corporation,
by virtue of these much-vaunted cor
poration laws, to pay its taxes. As I
find that the more sanguine among us
are about beginning to regard such pay
ment as now coming within the range
of “practical politics,” I am by no means
violently enthused with a conviction of
the practicability of the “Sarassan”
method.
Let us now turn to a consideration of
the position taken up by Messrs. Cridge
and “Zeno,” as also by the Socialistic
Labor Party, which holds that the work
ers must get hold of the political, as a
preliminary to.securine the economical
powers of the state. The question here
again is not whether von prefer a politi
cal to an economical Revolution, but
whether you can get one without the
other; a point abont. which many of us
have seriotiß doithls, but which these
gentlemen take for granted.
I have been talking and writing a good
deal latelv on Wendell Phillips and the
anti-slavery agitation, believing that the
history of that movement is full of les
sons which are eminently apnlicableio
the situation of to-day. I thought, that I
bad discovered that so long as ths slave
owners held supreme control of the poli
tics of this country tbev remained quies
cent, but that the moment this slipped
from their grasp they flew to arms. Mr.
Cridge and I have both read of war as
“the last argument of kings ;” are money
kings exempted rule? Will
the political stable be easier so clean out
than the economical? That is what we
want to know; and when von have
thoroughly scoured it, will everything
else necessarily rigbt.itseLf? It is very
easv to shout “Proportional Represents
tion,” but, if it is clearly understood that
this will carry with it possession of both
land and tools, there may be ODposition.
What then?
Nothin i is further from my intention
than to deride the efforts of a single re
former; indeed, if this article has an
object, it is to plead for tolerance, for the
exercise of that virtue, so pre-emiuentlv
' the characteristic of a cultured mind,
known a* “magnanimity. As ont who
has reached Socialism through the study
of evolution L necessarily believe in
growth. Our business is to make men
grow, and the first step is to get a man
interested in his growing. If I can
rouse a man to a study of social ques
tions by giving him Simeon Stetson on
“The People’s Power” —the ballot. I give
it to him. So it is with Henrv George’s
works, and a thousand others. There is
no universal panacea bat the Truth,
whenever the human mind shall take
the trouble to evolve it.
Force! As a mode of argument it
THE LABOR ENQUIRER.
would be entirely inadmissable, were R
not that there are * people who have to
be'frightened into thinking. I have
however for long been convinced that
they are a small, and exceedingly worth
less portion of humanity ; and it is, to
my mind, an open qneetioa whether
they are worth the tronble and sacrifice
involved in winning them. What, in
the name of,tolerance, is almost intoler
able, is the propensity of the enthusiast
to pnt his Morrison’s Pill of a reform —
whether labeled land tax, trades union
ism, dynamite, or any other title—on
the market and brand it “Sole and Uni
versal Panacea.” As for the sagacious
gentleman who Bpeaks so patronizingly
of the weaklings who “prattle in meet
ings or as writers,” I venture to refer
him to the “Letters to Young People”
by Krapotkine, who is perhaps the most
distinguished Anarchist of the day.
Krapotkine holds a very decidedly dif
ferent opinion from the gentleman in
question; and, as Krapotkine has
proved both his ability and devotion bv
a life of work and sufiering, I prefer him
as a guide.
All this intolerance is bat another
name for egoism; the conceited convic
tion that yonr iudgment is infinitely su
perior to that of other men, and that
you can drive the world the wav you
would have it go. I happen to be of
somewhat different opinion, and to
think that I can cite abont a thousand
parallels from history in support of my
position. I hold that we can, far more
easily than is generally supposed, con
vince people that the ultimate end of
all reform is the abolition of economical
dependence, and the attainment of self
government. There must be already in
these United States some 10,000 at the
least, who understand this clearly ; that
n umber could, with the exercise of little
judgment, be increased at an enormous
ratio. Having shown them the end we
want to reach, we can also point out va
rious ways of getting there; but, willy,
nilly, so far as we are concerned, each
individual will eventually select his
own road for travel. We can however
go somewhat further, for we can help
wonld-be travelers to come together and
select their route ; we uan organize them
for their journey. We can also stand bv
them in theif difficulties and help them
to overcome whatever obstacles thev
may meet. In other words, we can ed
ucate, we can organize, and we can help
different organizations in their trouble.,
Inasmuch as, in attacking private
property, we are endeavoring to tear up
bv the roots an institution which has
existed since the dawn of history, we
have evidently got no light task on
hand. The following questions will ac
cordingly, I submit be in order:
To Messrs. Cridge and “Zeno” Can
you inform us of anv great change which
has been accompleshed by the ballot
alone ?
To the Author of “The Groundwork
of the Social Revolution Can you
inform us of anv great change which
has been accomplished by force alone?
To the “Morrison Pill” Gentlemen
Generally :—Can you inform us of any
great change which has been accom
plished by any one agency single
handed ?
Although I am sincerely conscious
that these gentlemen should themselves
reply to ray question. I shall en deavor
to anticipate their answers, with the ed
itor’s consent, in next week’s issue.
W. C. Owen.
An Irishman on the English Press
If these emolumentary guides of class
oppression imagine tbev are preserving
the integrity of the empire bv the pres
ent so called system of constitutional
ism, which gives to landowners, capital
ists, monopolists an 1 professionals, the
labors of community, the process may be
continued too long. A day of reckoning
mav come, when paper barriers, pen
sioned philosophy, and aristocratic apa
thy will not suffice to prevent collisions
of class, which ere now have been re
corded in the most regretable pages of
mankind’s history. The Irish, as a peo
pie, have no presept quarrel with the
English as a people, who do not benefit
by our pauperization, emigration and
destruction. We have common cause
with the democracies of the world
against systems of government which
destroy liberty, decimate populations,
rule and rob in the interest of a limited
class who are loyal only to privilege,
pay or pension. We do not .covet any
man’s profession, earning, or inheri
tance, bat we fail to recognize the “gen
eral utility” of a government which fa
vors the few at the expense of the mul
titude. —From Home Rule by Rex.
The Tariff Blind.
Editor Labor Enquirer.
Sib There is a great amount of use
less contioversv upon the subjects of
protection and free trade. We all ad
mit that it is of vital interest to the
workers of this great republic. The
poor wage slaves are the persons indi
rectly affected by free trade. I remem
ber the time when it was the monster
conjured up to bewilder the ignorant
in England, as it is in America to day.
Who I ask receives the benefit of pro
tection ? —not the wage slaves—for it is
patent to every workingman that he is
not protected. Who brought those
crowds of Hungarians who are repre
sented by our daily press as being so ig
norant and bloodthirsty, into the coke
regions of the east. I will venture the
assertion that it was some of those pro
tected coal and iron masters or their
agents that imported this cheap labor,
while they themselves were protected.
DENVER, COLORADO, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6,1886.
They bought this labor like- true free
traders in the cheapest market, as thev
always do, and then get their poor wage
slaves to vote against free trade which
would give every poor family cheap
stoves, cheap blankets, cheap clothing of
all kinds; while protection levies a tax
of abont 45 per cent uuun all your pur
chases. By which they are enabled to
undersell the free traders of England in
clocks, watches, sewing machines and
other protected articles.
And what is the result? Whv these
skilled workmen come over here to
compete with yon in the labor market,
as you are not protected against their
cheap labor. When will the wage
slaves be wise and not allow these crafty
financiers to throw dust in tbeir eyes so
that they cannot see their own interest ?
They talk to you of the pauper labor of
Europe, and are they any greater pau
pers than the wage slaves of America?
Does the protected manufacturer pay
yon any more wages than he is com
pelled to do ? Do thev not compel you
to compete in the labor market with
Mexicans, Hungarians, Italians and Chi
nese— all of whom can live upon that
which would Btarve an American to
death ? How are these wage slaves
treated bv their employers in any of the
great manufacturing centers of this land
of boasted freedom ? Yea, free to starve,
free to go hungry and naked.
Brothers, let these protectionists fight
their own battles or you will certainly
be the under dog in the fight.
A Unionist. .
Some Interrogations.
Mr. S. P. Rounds, the public printer,
advances the opinion that “the type
setting machine lately invented by a
Baltimore German American will in five
years completely revolutionize the art
preservative in the United States and
throughout the world.” Can it take the
place of the old time compositor on
whose willing shoulder are placed the
’blunders of the editor? Can it strike a
town broke, and in two hours be as
mellow as a sunflower and have a board
ing house? Is it capable of taking
goose-tracks and quilltrailing and con
verting them into readable articles on
the tariff or the national debt ? Can it
put on a “sub” and borrow the money
he makes, and keep it up for a week or
a month, as occasion requires? Can it
go out on a strike and have more fun
with less money than a monkey with' a
cage full of peanuts? We think when
Mr. Rounds comes to view the matter
over he will revise his opinion. There
is nothing that can take the place of the
old time compositor , unless it possesses
Borne of the -» ingredients of a
cyclone. And, in due respect be it
added, it must possess brain.—Pretzel’s
National Weekly.
The Tramp Problem.
When eociety secures opportunity for
every man to work and keep for himself
and family the product of his labor, then
and not tili then has it a right to con
demn as incapable and vicious those
who do not work. And this is not sim
ply “sentimental;” it is a sound com
mon-sense, practical position. Society—
cultured. comfortable, enlightened,
Christian(?) society—has put a money
price on a man’s heritage, the land, and
then DUt a premium on money in the
form of interest. Is it any wonder home
less vagabonds are on the increase?
God help us! Sometimes, in scorn of
the greed and hollow-heartedness and
selfishness of the “respectable portion of
our community,” I feel as if I would
turn tramp myself. For humanity’s
sake look at this “tramp problem” as it is.
Whether we will qr not, whether we
know it or not, humanity is a brother
hood, and “the injury of one is the con
cern of all.” —Celia B. Whitehead in Our
Country.
The River Steal.
From $10,000,000 to $20,000,000 are an
nually appropriated by congress to the
pretended improvement of rivers and
either stolen or utterly wasted. Hun
dreds of millions have been waste! in
this way and not a cent’s worth of bene
fit shown in return. Every vear ship
ping bv water grows less, and by rail
larger, because the latter is the mosl sat
isfactory and can be done most cheaply.
The money already wasted on rivers
would have built four double track rail
roads from the Atlantic to the Mi°souri
river and thereby saved enough each
year in freights to build 1,000 miles of
branch lines, but this would be serving
the people and curtailing profits of rail
road kings, and that is not the kind of
work done by congress. The present con
gress will make very large appropriations
of the people’s money, ostensibly to im
prove rivers, but really to be divided
among the congressmen and a few fa
vored contractors—literally stolen.
A Chicago minister in his sermon
presented figures to show that bad Van
derbilt been born at the time Adam was
created (according to the Jewish myth
ology) and had saved $25,000 each year
since, he wonld still be 2,315 years short
of having accumulated the fortune left
bv him.
Slavery has disappered south of Mason
and Dixon’s line only to reappear north
of the line in shape of a funded debt of
$2,000,000,000, the holders of which will
hereafter prize the whole producing
class, north and aonth, just in propor
tion to the docility they manifest under
the craci&l application of the thumb
screws, to make them bleed golden drops
of blood from the finger ends of labor in
the shape of interest—Ex-President
Andrew Johnson in 1871.
‘“WHO WOULD BE FREE HIMSELF MUBT STRIKE THE BLOW I ”
EMINENT DOMAIN.
This Right Should be Exercised
by Individuals as Well
as Corporations.
i #
The Condition of the Workers as
Depicted by Thomas
B. Stuart, «. *
Before the Social League—What a
Lawyer and Legislator Thinks of
a Corrupt Government.
4 Thomas B. Stnart, ex-speaker of the
Colorado hpuse of representatives, de
livered the following address before the
Denver Branch of the Rocky Mountain
Social League, on Sunday evening, Jan
uary 31:
Ladies and Gentlemen : The wrongs
that give rise to the Socialistic orderare
recognized and most be admitted by all
men. But how these wrongs shall be
righted in quite another and different
question.
Bv philosophical truth, wherever a
barrier exists against labor it ought to
be removed.. And such governmental
principles adopted as in their natural
workings evolve protection to the classes
that cannot protect themselves. It is
the lower bricks in the wall of the
national structure that we should be
careful to protect from the influences
that lead to and cause national decay.
Let us now proceed to investigate ' the
condition of the producing classes in
this nation, and ascertain if there is anv
disease that needs treatment.
It has been correctly estimated that
every Dead of a family by working three
hours perdav, can in this country accu
mulate enough to keep himself and fam
ily comfortably. This leaves -the pro
duct of at least five hours per day as a
surplus. But while this is true it was
shown by the census of 1880 that out of
55,000,000 of a population, we only have
18,000,000 who are producers ; and out of
these 18,000,000 there are 16,000,000 who
receive ODly S3OO per year for what they
produce.
I will invite you to go with me a little
further into the census reports, and
allow me to premise by saying first that
my figures are not absolutely correct, as
I have frequently thrown out fractions,
and second, that when we take into con
sideration that the manufacturer is not
apt to tell any stronger story against
himself than he is compelled to, we shall
be fully able to draw a just conclusion
from what we have. Again it is well to
say that these figures cover one year
(1880). The factories in this country are
noi compelled to run more than two
thirds of the time to supply the market,
but it is nevertheless necessary for the
wage worker to live 365 on what he
earns in that time.,
In the manufacture of boots and shoes
the wage workers make on an average
$1.05 per dav. The value of their pro
duct was $196,920,481. After paying for
all materials used and for the labor em
ployed, the manufacturer had left
$30,958,762, or near 1/57 per cent on the
capital thev had invested.
In bread and baking products, the
wag 9 workers made on an average $1.12|
perdav. The capitalists, after paying
for labor and material, cleared $13,801,-
541, or over 72 per cent on their capital
invested.
In carpentering, the wage workers re
ceived on an average $1.31 per dav. The
capitalists controlling tbe work, after
paying for all material and the wages
due tbe workingmen, cleared $17,948,942,
or aver 91 per cent on the capital they
had invested.
In the manufacture of men’s clothing
the wage worker received on an average
78 cents per day (a large proportion be
ing females). The manufacturer, after
paying for all material and all wages,
cleared $32,244,825, or a little over 40 per
cent on the capital he had invested.
In the manufacture of women’s cloth
ing the wage worker received on an av
erage 72 cents per day. And the manu
facturer, after paying all wages and for
all material, cleared $5,784,562, or over
70 per cent on the capital he had in
vested. [Here the great majority of the
laborers are females.]
In the manufacturer of fire works the
wage workers received on an average
81 cents per day. The manufacturer,
after paying for all material and wages,
cleared $334,186, or over 57 per cent on
the capital he had invested.
In foundries and machine shops the
wage workers received on an average
$1.25 per day. After paving all wages
and for all material, the capitalist re
ceived $45,051,252, or 28 per cent on the
capital he had invested. It must be
born in mind that these plants only ran
from one-half to two-thirds of the time
and the amounts invested in capital are
very large. .
In the manufacture of jewelry the
wage workers received an average of
$1.87 per day, and the manufacturer
made 47 per cent on the capital invested
clear of all expense. v
In the mannfactnre lead bar, pipe and
shot, the wage worker received at the
rate of $1.51 ner dav, and the manufac
turer cleared 33 J per cent on his capital
invested. i
Ip the mannfactnre of planed lumber
the wage worker received on an average
■sl.oß pet day, and after paying all
wages and for material the capitalist
cleared 36 per cent on hia capital in
vested.
Certain departments in iron manufac
ture paid the wage worker $1.16 per day
and the capitalist made 37 per cent on
his capital invested, while in steel man
ufacture the wage worker got $1.51, and
the capitalist made 67 per cent.
I might go on, but I deem this amply
sufficient for the present.
Mr. Kelly, speaking in favor of pro
tection at the last congress, describes
with much feeling the miserable houses
in which the workingmen live in En
gland. A Christian woman ofMr. Kel
ly’s district wrote a letter to a member of
congress giving some light as to the con
dition of Mr. Kelly's constituency.
This woman savs she has been through
every street and alley in her ward (Fifth
Ward of Philadelphia) and that she is
thoroughly acquainted with the condi
tion of the working classes therein. She
says: “I have seen hundreds of little
girls 7 or 8 years old, employed in cotton
mills. They work at spooling because
their hands are small and there is less
danger from the machinery, etc. The
effect on such children of tender years is
apparent in their wan countenances.
They work full time. Women generally
go to work in the morning at 7 and work
until 6in the evening. When they go
home they are often compelled to work
several hours at washing, ironing, patch
ing, scrubbing, cooking, etc. 1 know it is
a common practice on the part of many
mothers going out to work to lock out
their children in the streets.- They do
this because it is safer than locking them
in their rooms. Fatal results have, fol
lowed the latter practice. In very.many
:ases the children are given a piece of
bread when so turned out. There are
ieveral sections in this citv in which it
would be no exaggeration to say that
Jiere are daily thousands of little chil
iren roaming the streets uncared for in
;he absence of their parents.”
Speaking of mothers leaving their tit
le children at the “baby farm,” when
;hey go out to work, she says :
"A mile or two is not an uncommon
listance for mothers to carry their babies
jo these places. I know a case where a
mother carried her babe three miles
ivery morning and then walked back a
nile to the factory where she was em
iloyed. She had to repeat the same
walk returning from her work after 6
>’clock every evening. It makes no dif
erence as to the kind of weather there
s to be encountered. Think of a woman
icarcely half clad, getting up at 5 o’clock
n the winter, preparing a scanty break
ast,'then wallring with a baby in her
irms and perhaps a couple of children
.rudging alongside, through the rain,
mow and sleet by gaslight to a nursery,
[t appears to me the condition of the
working class Is getting worse instead of
letter.”
It was also shown by sworn evidence,
hat the miners of Pennsylvania, in
irder to make a living for their families
were compelled to take with them into
he mines their bovs of 12 years of age
rad upwards. They would go to their
work so early in the morning and come
>ut so late at night that they would
lever see the sun except on Sundays.
Another blessing that they have in
Pennsylvania, and indeed in all mining
listricts, is a store kept by the proprie
,ors of the mines. The miners are com
lelled to buy at these stores, and pay
ibout 25 per cent more thaD they would
n the open market. Thev are known
p Pennsylvania as “pluck-me-shops.”
rhey used to be known in England as
‘Tommy shops.” They are now prohibi
ted in that “king-ridden” country, and
inly flourish where the “free intelligent
imencan laborerer” is found.
There is not a class of producers that
s accumulating anything except the far
mer, and the statistics show that he
makes a scant 10 per ceut on the capital
le has invested. Take a man that has
i family to feed, cloth and educate, who
must pay rent, and how can he care for
;hat family properly, in S3OO or even
£SOO per year? Let alone the question
if laving up anything for old age.
Still, iii the face of these facts and fig
ires, the politician comes to us about
election time and with a great hurrah
points to these census reports lor the
ourpose of sho wing what a great and
jlorious government we have. He says:
‘See! your total wealth is $43,000,000,-
)00.” Where is this $43,000,000,000?
rhe producers have it not. The men
that made it all have but a very small
fraction of it. If your producers are
laying up treasures it must be in heaven,
for they are certainly not shown by
your census reports.
Where is this $43,000,000,000 of wealth
then? Ask vour 600 millionaires of
New York City. Did they ever create
any of their wealth ? Ask “the people
be d —d” Vanderbilt family. Did that
family ever create or produce any of the
wealth they control? Had William H.
Vanderbilt been born in Adam’s time,
and had he made $25,000 per year from
that time np to this, it is estimated he
would have had at that rate, to
lived 2,000 years longer to have accu
mulated the wealth of which he died
possessed. Ask Jay Gould with his
Western Union Telegraph company.
There is a property with which a con
gressional committee has been nnable
to trace more than $8,000,000, and still
Gonld has stocked it at $80,000,000, and
compels the people of this nation and
the employes that operate the property
to pay him a large per cent per annum
interest on over $70,000,000 of watered
stock.
A«k the proprietors of the Union Pa
i- cific railroad company. Recently one of
them died. A few years ago he was not
i- worth a cent;; now his administrator*
y returned the amonnt of his estate under
a oath as being $42,000,000.
Ask the bondholders who in the dark
1 days of the republic patriotically took
its bonds at 50 cents on the dollar;
f these men for whom we have taken so
much care to preserve the public credit,
- and who now come to yon to-day and
s ask yon to demonetise silver and pay
s their bonds in gold. Ah yes, this is the
-way they have made all they havq,
- Yojjr little property to-day is worth
f sl,ooo'in Wall Street gold, bat strike out
- silver and yop will find that it is worth
but SSOO. Why not doable the yalae of
i your property by a legislative act in
i stead of doubling the value of theirs?
1 Ask the railroad monopolies as to this
■ $43,000,000,000 of wealth. Yon will find
1 that from beggars they have btcome
1 aristocrats. From pennies they have at
1 one bonnd gone to millions; and the
1 truth is, that all of this wealth has been
1 taken from the people without any con
-1 sideration paid therefore. There most
1 be some remedy found and applied to
■ this evil. If twenty-fiveVyears to come
shall add to the suffering of the produc
ing classes in the same ratio that the last
twenty-five years havaywhat may we
expect. *
This is far from being a pleasant sub
ject to talk upon. Let a man word his
sentiments as he may, it sounds like
demagoguery. But when we are brought
to face these cold, relentless figures that
establish these facts as plainly as twice
two makes four, it will not do to attempt
to deny or palliate. It is far better to
honestly seek at once for some remedy.
I am not so presumptuous as to claim
that I havffMtttoedy for these evils, but
I wish to leave with you a few sugges
tions:
Of what benefit is the protective tariff
to the producers?
It is very strange indeed that upon all
questions except that of “protection”
capital and labor appear to be at enmity.
Bnt when vou talk about free trade the
capita'ist at once draws his sword and
swears that “free, intelligent Amer ican
labor shall be protected.”
Now a protective tariff, as to the capi
talist means that no foreign made goods
shall enter this market to sell in oppo
sition to his manufactures. On all im
ported necessaries of life there is a duty
of about 40 per cent This presumes
that our home manufacturers mav sell
these articles at 40 percent in advance
of their value, or nearly double what
they are worth. Who pays that for
them? Every citizen that purchases, in
cluding the wage worker that works in
the factory to produce the article. He
pays nearly double what it is worth.
Now if the wage worker got the bene
fit of it by increased wages, no one
would comnlain; but we have seen that
he does not. He is reduced to starva
tion wages. It becomes necessary for
the manufacturer to allow him enough
to keep him in working order, and that
is just about what he does allow ljjm.
Take the difference in table living in the
cities of this country and in England,
and you will find-it much cheaper there.
Take the difference in wages paid, and
there is not so much difference; not
enough to justify our manufacturers in
shipping in English labor; they have to
get a cheaper class. 'But the great dif
ference comes when we find that the
English laborer purchases his clothing
at from 40 to 60 per cent cheaper and
other necessaries at abont 40 per cent
cheaper.
Bat it is said that the protective tariff
deyelopes our “infant industries,” and
protection gives “competition.” «Our
infant industries have been thus unduly
developed until we have about twice the
amount of machinery that is necessary
to Bupplv our people. As for “competi
tion” yon find that as soon as the Inter
ests of capital begin to'clash the capi
talists combine. You have yonr "gro-,
cers exchange,” vour “dry goods ex
change,” vour "hardware . exchange,”
vour “petroleum exchange,” and so on
without number. These exchanges fix
the price at which articles shall be sold,
and the amonnt that shall be produced
or manufactured. But recently the
“hardware exchange” estimated the
number of tons of iron and steel rai 1-
road rails that could be manufactured
this year and the price at which they
should sell.
Competition in any of these lines is
like competition in railroading. This
1 confidence game will do to play on the
people until the last dollar of subsidy
has been obtained, and then when vour
competing line comes to town It imme
diately goes into the pool, and the pool
commissioner raises the freights. He
finds the same amonnt of freights to be
shipped and an additional railroad that
mast have profits on its stock. Right
here in the city of Denver with all its
competing lines freights are mnch
higher to-day than thev were when you
only had one line (the Kansas Pacific)
and allowed it to charge all that its
manager’s conscience wonld allow him
to ask.
Now as yon have almost doable the
machinery that is necessary to supply
yon with manufactures, the result is
1 that they ran about half of the time, and
by this combination in connection with
the protective tariff compels the con
sumer to pay themenormoua profits for
what time they do me, and also interest
for what time they do not ran. When
the consumer and producer looks
around him to-day and sees the combi-
[Continued on second page. J
PRICE FIVE CENTS?*
v r-s
MAMMON’S TOOLS.
I
Our Poet Tells of the Venal
Preachers, who Are Hired
by Money, |
As its Christian Teachers; and
the Press, Another Mono*-
oly Tool,
Is Depraved, While the Law Disgraces
the Golden Bnle— M De as Ton’d
Be Done By.”
For the Enquirer.
Six-tenths of all that toilers earn
Is set aside as plunder,
To it the rich men’s preachers turn,
Kneel down, adore and wonier.
They think the Master said in vain,
That love of money is the cause
Of every great or little stain
Which mankind pnt on Heaven’s laws. •
Sure, every rich man’s preacher shows,
Deploring it with gravity.
That almost all the evil flows
From workingmen’s depravity. •
And oft with sanctimonious face,
And phrases that appalled ns,
They’ve bid us occupy the place
Where “God himself hath called us.”
How do that kind of preachers pray ?
With understandingV No, sir 1
They do it always in this way,
Wherever you may go, sir:
They say, “Our Father,” and they deem
The kinship is well merited,
But do not condescend to dream
0/ us, the disinherited.
His kingdom, then, they ask for, too,
With rhetoric quite splendid;
But still conclude their own will do
When it’s a little mended.
And then they say, “Thy will be dons,”
But if it were they’d rue it.
They have no need to ask for food —
In riches thev are “wallowing”—
And so thev touchingly allude
To us in manner following:
“Give us our daily bread; do not
Forget one son or daughter;”
And Beecher, boldest of the lot,
Says, “Add a little water.”
That settles us, and next they ask
For grace of their own fashions,
Who leave us starving at our task,
While they devour the rations.
Continuing, with pious airs,
Their further invocation,
Thev move that Heaven avert the
snares
That lure them to temptation.
They need no tempting, save to tell
The truth, and they have missed it;
Or, if it ever tries its Bpell
They valiantly resist it.
They asK not that the demon, Greed,
Shall cease to wield his
power,
Nor shall the millions soiled by need
May find their share of Heaven’s
dower.
Most of the sinful fashions
That poverty betide,
Are God-Implanted passions
Repressed and crucified.
The last petition of the "meek,”
Who know their Latin and their Greek,
Proves that thev have a quite unique
Endowment of what men call “cheek.”
They say, “Free us from evil’s hold,”
While Mammon’s finger leads them,
And “love of money” steals the gold
That buys their clothes and feeds
them.
The press is also deeply dyed
With Dives’ pet opinion,
And all the “statesmen” we have tried
Acknowledge his dominion;
And while deliv’rance we invoke,
Still farther down thev thrust ns;
Let us throw off the legal yoke
And try a little justice.
For just so long as we abide
By courts, we’ll lose our cause;
Remember that the other side
Have written all the laws.
And if we go to law, indeed,
As villains they’ll depict us,
For every statute which thev read
Was written to convict us.
All laws deny our right to hope,
For this most potent reason :
That all tbeir meanings and their scope
Bustain the ancient treason,
Wberebv the birthright of our race
Was given to the snoiler,
Investing him with legal grace
To starve and rob the toiler.
Thatwas the birth of all onr woe;
The original sin ’gainst Heaven’ plan;
From thence all sins and sorrows flow ;
That was the primal fall of man.
That was the root of every ill
That hurts and grieves.
My brothers, do not waste yonr skill '
In plucking leaves. ,
If ye are weary of their poison breath
And wish to be forever free—
To strike them with a lasting death—
Then touch them not; dig up the tree.
Then shall their upas shade for aye
Depart between God’s smile and us;
.Tne fountain of all sin gone dry.
All men shall be converted thns.
And would the rich be losers? No,
Not as wise men reckon loss.
They’d deem their former station low,
And find their gold was mostly dross;
But will they heed sweet wisdom’s plea?
Did they ever heed it yet?
Their future, as their past, shall be ,
Nothing to give and all to get.
A few may hear; a few may heed;
And tarn from darkness onto light,
Renounce the villainy of greed,
And come ont on the side of ri£bt.
Bnt most of them will sow the wind
Until, when clouds are gathered thick,
The whirlwind’s wrath shall strike
them blind
And make their reeling hearts grow
sick.
The cap of trembling they’ve filled
For poverty to drink so fast,
Shall through their pallid lips be
spilled;
They’ll taste its bitterness at last
' A. J. JaNxiNos.