The Labor enquirer. [volume], June 05, 1886, Image 1

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

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THE LABOR ENQUIRER.
VOLUME VI-NO. 23.
RIGHT.
The Bottom Law of All Revo
lutions is That Might
Makes Right.
The True Reformers Spring From
the Loins of the Common
People.
The Alienation of IndiTldual Liberty
is a Violation of Right—
a Crime.
For The Enquirer.
He is a slave who dare not be
’ In the right with two or three.
Blessed are the disturbers of the peace,
fur they shall cause progress and pros
perity.
Blessed are they who resist unjust law
and authority, for tney shall widen the
sphere of Liberty and Justice.
All important individual and collect
ive rights that are enjoved to-day by
man on this earth, have been wrung
from despotism, through the agency of
speech, the pen and the sword —the
sword being the final arbitrator. All
peaceful conditions of society., whether
just or UDjust, have been conquered con
ditions. The bottom law of all Revolu
tions, whether justifiable or not, is, that
"might makes right.’’ The foundation
of every government in existence rests
upon force; and no government was
•ver overthrown, or radically changed in
its construction or character, except
force was the active agent in the accom
plishment. Human speech, moral
suasion and the pen, although they
have accomplished wonders in educating
and arousing men to a proper concep
tion of their rights, yet unaided bv the
sword have failed in the attainment of
their purposes.
When men clamor for rights, ‘‘that in
herently exist in their nature,' 1 but
which thev are not permitted bv society
to enjoy, “whether they know it or not,”
are clamoring for' war. To shout, “Let j
us have peace,” is only in order when
rights and victories are won. Any new
form of Truth that presents itself o
the human mind concerning man’s in
herent*, “that may be in opposition to
any oftheexistingimperfect institutions
of society, and demands recognition,’
declares war. The Truth never was a
peace-maker, and never will i e, -;o long
as its mission is to overthrow error and j
injmtice.
The mission of Truth is one of de
struction. It is an iconoclastic, as well
as e. constructive reformer. If the gov
ernment that the Socialists seek to estab
lish was not of this world, bnt a govern
ment in heaven —wherever that may be
—then we might say as one of old did,
“Peter, put up thy sword but in tins
hard, cold, metallic, matter of fact world
there is a strange fascination and po
tency in the eloquence of force, more j
than that of love. Justice, unlike love,
never comes out with smiling face,
witching beauty, flowers and songs of
happiness and praise. Justice comes
clad in the grim panoply of war, to
break the shackles of slaves, establish
he rights of man, and advance the race.
In order to determine when it is just
and proper to resist legal authority, we
must endeavor to ascertain the true ba
sis of Right. In 1840 I was living in (
Cim innati, Ohio, heing at that time a
boy 12 years of age. In those days,
south of Mason and Dixon’s line, a
black man had no rights a wuite man
was bound to respect; he was placed
upon a par, so far as rights were con
cerned, with a bale of cotton or a
hogshead of sugar, and every white mau
had a legal right to wollop his niggei
to his heart’s content.
There existed at that time a mysteri
ous loute or road to Canada, known as
the underground railroad, that
the poor enslaved black man fre
quently took advantage of when oppor
tunity offered and sometimes found his
way to freedom. John .Brown, to his
eternal honor be it known, was a con
ductor on that road, serving without pav,
except the halter, which lie received, in
the end, as a reward for his services to
humanity —that is, so far as this life is
concerned —but I am one of those who
believe that that halter elevated him to
a land beyond the skies, where his soul
goes marching on. It is repugnant to
my sense of justice to think that John
Brown, after his long and faithful ser
vice in the cause of humanity, was at
last annihilated by the hangman’s rope.
A poor black slave made his escape
from the Kentucky side of the Ohio
river and swam over to Cincinnati
during the night, (this occurred in 1840),
and sought refuge in the friendly home
of a bocialist, (they were called Aboli
tionists in those days), but somehow or
otht-r the blood-hounds of the law and
constitution of the United States, struck
the poor fellow’s trail and tracked nim
to the friendly home of his protector.
It was in the evening when his master
and the United States marshal, with a
pack of human wolves yelling and
howling, discovered his retreat. They
thundered at the door, it' being locked.
The noble man that gave the poor slave
shelter was an European by the name
of Burnett. Barnett stuck his head out
of the window to see who it was pound
ing at his door; he quickly took in the
situation and as quickly determined how
to act
Seizing hisnfle, down he came, bare
headed and in his shirt sleeves. Open
ing the door, with leveled rifle he con
fronted the authorities, and defied the
law and the constitntion of the United
States. For a moment the howling mob
and officers of the law were dumb
founded at the sudden audacity and
courage of that heroic man. Bov as I
was, the majesty of that man’s courage
fairly magnetized my sonl. Oh ! if ever
there was a man deserving of immortal
ization in verse; if ever there was a
man deserving of remembrance in
bronze, it was that man Burnett.
Fifty years have nearly passed away
since that event, and I, here in this at ti
de, pav a simple tribute of respect to
his memory by saying that as long as I
exist and have consciousness, the mem
ory of that brave man shall live.
The spell of his bravery over the mob
was soon broken, a rush was made, and
over his prostrate form they pressed into
his house, ransacked it, an! found their
poor, trembling fugitive; they brought
him out to view amid,-tthe fiendish yells
of delight from the mob. He was soon
hurried back to slavery and the lash,
and his gallant and disabled defender
was incarcerated in prison for defending
human rights in violation of law.
I mention this in order to show that
there were just such a set of miserable
croak ers in those davs as there are in
these days—eternally prating about
law, order, vested rights, constitution,
etc., etc., but never a word in defense of
Human Rights. They were the lovers
of peace, but not of Humanity, They
charged the Abolitionists in those days
—as they charge the Socialists in these
days—with being the disturbers of the
peace. So they were and so they are,
and so is every true reformer. Beware
of the peace-makers, thev are not the
the true friends of reform.
1 claim that, on the true basis of Right,
John Brown’s action at Harper’s Ferry
was justifiable. I claim that the action
of Burnett, herein stated, was justifia
ble. I claim that the men that dumped
the tea overboard in Boston harbor in
76 committed a justifiable act. I claim ,
on the basis of Right, that if the work
ingmen who were clubbed out of Tomp
kin's square in New York s >me years
ago, bad been armed, which thev should
have been, and had shot down every
policeman that attempted to club them
or arrest them on that occasion, the act
would not only have been justifiable,
but praiseworthy. I claim that the
workingmen of Chicago, in their recent
conflict with the police, stood up for and
defended the pre eminent right of free
speech, and the dastar ily act of the au
thorities in dispersing that assemblage
of workingmen, was virtually and to all
intents the hauling do* n of the Ameri
can flag. The workingmen on that oc
casion responded th the famous order of
General Dix. All honor to them for the
manlv act. In less than five years from
now the pusillanimous skunks that are
now advocating Revolutionary ideas of
social reform,shirking the responsibility
of their teaching, and denouncing the
Anarchists of Chicagi, will be the loud
est in their praise and the first to steal
their laurels.
Any hireling of the la v that under
takes to interfere with orderly free
speech on the part of workingmen, and
they do not resent it, are unworthy to
be called American citizens. It would
be a fatal mistake to submit to arrest or
dispersion, and trust to a court after
wards to define aucLvindicate the right
of free speech. Thev are cowards who
are afraid of the scare crow- called public
opinion. Who are the public after the
working classes are deducted ? A lot of
drones, parasites, boodle-takers, and
wealthy paupers. Who pavs all the
taxes, creates all the wealth, and has no
just representation in legislation?
Labor. From whence spring the true
reformers of the race? From the loins
of the common people. Wno furnishes
the world with masters sf ar*, science,
philosophy, poetry, invention and
heroes of true patriotism? The common
people. Who monopolizes this wealth,
these treasures and luxuries of civiliza
tion ? The so-called elite of society,
that flaunt their stolen wealth day bv
day in the faces of the honest poor, and
despise them for their poverty. How
long will these things continue to exist?
Just so long as those wh/are oppressed
will submit to it.
What need the working classes care
for the opinion of these society loafers,
adulterers, and fornicators ? Tuey and
their opinions a> e not worth the powder
to blow them t > Jericho. What wealth
they have belongs to the working classes,
and they know it. What is the basis of
most of the legal enactments of con
gress and state legislatures? Fraud,
bribery and corruption. Can the indus
trial masses have any veneration and
respect for laws that rest upon such a
basis? None whatever. For nearly
every dollar of organized capital in this
country is the fruits of robbery and op
pression. We hear occasionally a plea in
behalf of honest capital. Show me an
honest thief ahd I will admit the plea.
A summons will be served in the near
future on the social robbers that claim
to represent organized capital, and no
tice will be given them that it is the in
tent and purpose of organized labor to
confiscate, through law and legislation,
on the basis of Right, every dollar of
their stolen wealth. King craft, money
monarchv and landlordism have had a
long, long lease ol existence, but the day
of judgment for them draws nigh.
DENVER, COLORADO, SATURDAY, JUNE 5, 1886.
A system of government that permits
a social monstrosity like Gould, to en
joy an income of $40,000 per day, at the
expense of men who only receive sl.lO
per day; a system that permits such hu
man hogism as will enable a Vanderbilt
to accumulate $120,000,000 in the brief
space of twelve years,at the expense of
his employes and the public in general,
ought to be consigned to Dante’s Inferno
as speedily as possible. It is a system
built up by fraud and maintained by
force. The purse, the sword, the judici
ary and the legislation of the nation is
behind it to perpetuate it. The press of
the country defend it. And the hypo
critical. Pharisaical church endorses
their action with an amen !
The industrial classes will get nothing
under this form of government worth
having. It’s a failure. Its fruits have
been class legislation, millionaires,
tramps and paupers. It has become de
structive of the rights and liberties of
the people for whom it was established.
It is therefore the right and duty of Un
people to alter or abolish it, an 1 to in
stitnte a new government, laying its
foundation on such principles and organ
izing its powers in such forms as to them
shall seem most likely to effect their
m
safety and happiness.
Therefore, workingmen, withdraw
your state assembly committees. Send
no more committees to congress. Send
no more petitions to vour political mas
ters. We are done with both the old
parties ; thev are no good. How often
have you tried them, weighed them and
found them wanting ! No good can come
out of Sodom and Gomorrah. Turn
away from that whited sepulchre mis
named the church. Turn away from
that political abomination—the state.
They are the two organized thieves
between which labor is. being continu
ally crucified. The church has sold out
Christ to Mammon. It witnesses the
grinding up of the flesh, bones, tissues
and souls—if such a thing be possible—
day bv day, of men, women and inno
cent children, that are considered typical
of the kingdom of heaven, into divi
dends on watered stocks and bonds. It
witnesses day bv dav the degradation
and demoralization of honest manhood,
toiling in mines and factories, over
worked and under paid It witnesses
the sharks of commerce, trade, finance
and laudlordism rob them of their hard
earned dollars, through an infernal sys
tem of rent, interest and profit. It wit
nesses dav by dav the destruction of the
beautiful temples of the living God—Jhe
bodies of workinggirls that are stitch
ing shirts and wearing their shrouds at
the same time. It witnesses all these
iniquities and scarcely enters a protest.
Its representatives make loud-mouthe i,
long-winded, blasphemous prayers, and
then devour the substance of widows
and orphans. The tell us the Master is I
coming again in splendor, power and
glorv, and every knee shall bow to Him.
Behold he is here 1 D m’t look up to
the skies for Him, hu. down in the
mines, in the factories, at the forge and
at the bench. Listen, ye hypocrites, and
if ye have an ear to hear ye will hear
Him say : “Whv persecutes! thou me?
I am a presence felt in the hearts of
those who love Justice. I come to
judge the institutions of society on the
basis of Right, in accordance with a
higher law laid down 1800 years ago.”
And the church of to-day will have to
go in sackcloth and ashes at the feet of
this Redeemer of the ninete -nth cen
tury, before it can be reinstated in the
confidence of the masses.
And what a state! Labor shackled
by legislatiqn and handed over, bound
hand and foot to shylock,in the form of
organized capital Workingmen of
America, vou have nothing in common
wiih these institutions as at present or
ganized and managed. Gid forbid that
I should raise mv voice against any re
ligiou, pure and simple, which, summed
up, is to care for the widow and the or
phan, to deal iustlv wth all men, and
to keep ourselves unspotted from the
vices of the world.
Gol forbid I should raise mv voice
against the s'ate when it carries out in
law and legislation the principles and
spirit of the Declaration of Independ
ence. This government is not a govern-
ment of the people, by the people and
for the people. It is a government of
politicians, by politicians and (or politi
cians, and run in the interests of bank
ing, mining, m inufacturing, railroad,
landlord and money syndicates of this
and countries of Europe. All the ele
ments of good—if there are any—that
exist in the church and state of to-da7
will surely gravitate to the cause of labor,
because they claim to be predicated on
the Idea of Justice.
Vote no more, workingmen, until you
are thoroughly organized in every state
of the Union. Let all the factions of
the labor movement pool their issues as
speedily as possible, and when every
state is properly organized, call a con
vention on some Fourth of July in the
near future, issue a Second Declaration
of American Independence, declare a
separation from the present form of
government—state to the world, as they
did, your reasons for so doing—frame a
new constitution, nationalizing land,
labor, finance, commerce, trade, insur
ance, education, and establish the new
nation on the everlasting basis of Right.
In discussing the true basis of Right, the
thing called money or capital must be
entirely eliminated, (or it being an inan
imate substance, can have no rights.
Only animated living beings have rights,
and man is pre-eminent as such.
[Continued on fourth page.)
“WHO WOULD BE FREE HIMSELF MUST STRIKE THE BLOW!’
LAW AND ORDER.
Law a Barrier Behind Which
Rich Rascals Retreat After
Committing Crime.
Resistance to Bad Law is Obedi
ence lo the Law of
Humanity.
Not in Sympathy With the Anarchists,
but at Onts With the Law
as it is.
For The Enquirer.
So much has been said of late about
“Law an Order”, and so much gush has
been indulged in by the capitalistic
press, over the poor, mutilated officers of
the law at Chicago, on Tuesday, May 4,
that I am constrained to say a few
words—if you will permit me—in order
to express my views concerning law and
the guardians of the law, First, then,
what is law ?
[Note: —I am now speaking of what
is, not what ought to be the law. Law
u 5 the opposite of justice, and in every
instance it is contrary to the will of the
people ]
Law is enacted bv rich men to secure
to themselves the proceeds of the toil of
others.
Law is a barrier behind which rich
rascals retreat when they have commit
ted some vile act against the people,
in order to escape public indignation and
to secure title to whatever theft thev
may have committed.
Law is a tyrant, inasmuch as it con
demns people to toil and then refuses
them a chance to labor.
Law is a cudgel in the hands of the po
lice, used on the defenseless poor and it
is a baton of authority in the hands of I
tlie rich robber.
Law is a fiend who compells dark
deeds of every nature and then stigma
tizes the debased ones as prostitutes,
thieves, blacklegs, etc., and devises pen
alties against the vices fathereJ and
fostered bv itself.
Law is a blacksmith, ever active,
riveting chains upon the people.
Laws are passed—enacted—by the
enemies of the people—our “lawmakers”
constitute murderers. Instance —Senator
LelanJ Stanford was the instigator of
tiie murder of six honest farmers in the
Mussel Slough country, in Tulare
county, California, on May 11, 18S0—bv
usurers, (national bankers,) —and by
men whose fortune depends upon the
misfortune of the people, (lawyers).
Now the “guardians of law,” who are
they ?
The police are generally considered
the guardians of “Law and Order” but
of la'e we hear a great deal about deputy
sheriffs, Pinkerton’s detectives, the state
militia and the natioual army as the
guardians of “Law and order.” What
ever their name, one thing is certain :
they are all at the beck and call of the
moneyed men in their fight against hon
est labor. The police is a necessary ad
junct of bad law ; a good law, enacted in
the interests of tiie people, needs no
bodyguard to see that it is put in force.
It is a bad law, enacted by bad men lor
vile purposes, that requires the police
man’s cliib and the bribed judge’s de
cision to put it in operation. A police
man renders his services for a money
consideration ; in other words, his bread
and butter depends upon his employ
ment, and this being the case he will al
ways serve best where best rewarded.
Now, although it is a fact beyond dis
pute that labor produces all wealth and
pays all the expenses of “Law and
Order,” it is never accredited for any
thing by the bosses, wno have the man
ipulation of all the funds thus paid in
and who use it in every instance to
further their own ends.
The usurpers iff the rights of the peo
ple (the lawmakers and money syndi
cates) are necessarily dependent upon
the police —and the other guardians of
Law and Order—to back them up in
'.heir warfare against and pillage of the
people, while the police are dependent
npon the people’s masters for their bread
and butter and an easy job. These men
are necessary to one another, they both
thrive on the toil of the laboring asses,
who produce all and then meekly ac
cept with thanks a mere pittance at the
hands of those who db notbtng, but who
under the law claim all. The police are
of necessity the enemy of labor so soon
as the toilers become intelligent enough
to know tTat they are being robbed.
The people are being exploited of
everything they earn by hard knocks
from the crude natural resources by men
who do nothing, but who have been fa
vored by class law and have been
granted by government the privilege to
rob the toiler at their own sweet will
and are backed up and protected in
their stealings. Bad law —class legisla
tion is tbe cause of all the suffering the
people have to endure; millions of men
are idle because of “Law and Order;”
hundreds of peoDle are starving because
of law ; all the ills labor is now suffering
were superinduced and brought about
by bad laws, enacted by unscrupulous,
unprincipled rascals to enrich a few at
the beggary of the many.
Resistance to bad law is obedience to
the law of humanity; no truly good man
can conscienciously obey a bad law ; he
will refrain from doing so in respect for
the rights of his neighbor, if be has no
regard for his own rights in the matter.
Of course he must make a show of obe
dience so long as the other party is the
strongest, but he is not a true man if he
does not kick as soon as a good oppor
tunity offers for a successful kick,
The world is ruled by sentiment; so
long as people preach respect for law,
simply because it is Jaw, so long will
corrupt men remain in high places, and
so long will the masses of the people
suffer injustice ; but when the eyes of
the people are open to the crimes that
are dailv enacted under cover of law,
sentiment will change and with that
change will come that overturning that
will do away with all laws through and
by which the many were exploited by
the few.
The piea made by s’ome of the press,
in the case of the shooting of the police
of Chicago, is, that the officers were but
doing their duty, and thit they are not
responsible if their duty is contrary to
the public welfare. This kind of talk is
very thin when brought to the atten
tion of a cool reasoner.
A man who shoots into a mob of un
armed men and women because he has
been ordered to do so by his boas, sim
ply commits the crime of murder, no
matter what kind of cloak you may
throw about the murderer; a man,
though he be au officer of the law, is
amenable to the laws of humanity and
he cannot escape just condemnation for
doing a. vile act because someone or
dered him to do ita man should be a
human being and not a mere machine
that exists and acts only at the bidding
of some other individual; as au intelli
gent human being he is responsible ; as
a marine, an engine of murder, he is
very dangerous and should be made
harmless—he should be made *to un
dergo the process that makes good. In
dians. The so-called mas acre in Chi
cago on Mav 4 was just what might be
expected—“as a uun sows, so also shall
he reap.” The police on the dav before
I shot down eleven people for no other
reason except the use of their constitu
.ional right of assemblage j and the
shooting of the police on the following
dav • y tiie people was but the recoil of
their own petard.
Can it. he expected that the laboring
people will forever submit to be shot at
and killed by hired assassins? The
wonder is that they put up with it as
thev have.
lam not in sympathy with the An
archists, but that being the case I cer
tainly am at outs'* with the law as it. is,
for if Anarchy ever ruled in any land it
certainly rules in this. Thev speak of
Anarchi ts, and they are accused of in
citing the people to riot and bloodshed.
Who are these Anarchists? I remem
ber seeing, not long ago, an advertise
ment calling for men with arms, and grit
to use them, and but a few days later I
read of a massacre in East St. Louis—
where men and women were shot down
bv those “men with arms, and the grit
to use them.”
The call that brought the murderers
into the field was nit made by an An
archist but oy an individual who is very
much in favor of “Law and Order.”
Anarchy 1 Is there aught but Anarchy
in America to-day? Look to Seattle ;
look to California ; look to Colorado, to
Missouri, to Wisconsin, to Illinois, to
New York ; look anywhere in this, “the
best government the world ever saw,”
and everywhere vou will find the money
power in arms against the working peo
ple; shooting them down by the score—
everywhere you hear the cry of the
toiler for a share of what his labor pro
duces, and the order is wafted back to
them in answer to their erv : “Give
them a diet of lead.”
“Tiie Cnicago authorities ought to run
out the gatling guns and shoot down tne
strikers.”—W'illiam Barth, president
City National bank.
Is William Barth an Anarchists? The
language is certainly the utterance of au
Anarchist.
The fact of the matter is, our govern
ment is in the hands of a number of un
scrupulous men who have determined
to use all the power of the nation to en
slave the working people, and if the peo
ple should refuse to be made slaves then
thev will shoot them into submission,
bv hiring arm'ed assassins to murder
them; rewarding the murderers with
the people’s belongings. This is what
the Free Press of America is pleased to
call “Law and Order.”
Men and women ot America, in the
name of Humanity I call upon you to
Awake! Arise! The stealthy tread of
the hired butcher is near your dwelling ;
he enters ; see, in his hands the already
bloody steel ; he raises his hand to
strike; hark! something deters him,
his guilty conscience makes him trem
ble ; no, be takes new heart; he strikes ;
he kills!—No? what was it? who stayed
his hand? what struck him down? was
it a miracle? did God interfere? No!
it'was only a dynamite bomb ! Thank
God for that bo nb !
Oh that a million of honest toilers
were armed with such bombs, to deal
the death blow to Anarchy in our fair
land and to establish peace a d good
will among the people ; when all shall
enjoy the right to life and the means of
living, liberty and happiness; when
every man shall be able to ; sit under his
own vine and fig tree and no man shall
make him afraid. C. F. Keller.
Travkr, California.
Is the Worker Better Off
This is a question concerning which
there is a considerab j’ ? fference of
•pinion. That they are progressing po
liticallv is unquestionable, but that they
are progressing religiously is very doubt
ful. According to Dr. Giffen they are
making rapid material progress. They
are to-day, he says, making 100 per cent
more wages for 20 per cent less work
than they were fifty years ago. N>t be
ing a mathematical expert, but only a
humble operative, I confess my inabil
ity to successfully controvert his state
ments. But I may say that any of my
clsßß with whom I talk on the subject
find it impossible to believe that we
could subsist on half our present income
—that is, with the present prices of the
necessaries of life. Ido not propose to
refute the statistical doctor, but I pro
pose to go back, not only fifty, but 400
years, and endeavor to discover
w hether we have been making such
wonderful progress as some would have
us believe.
Hallam, a less prejudiced authority
than Dr. Giffen, save, in reviewing the
state of society in Europe during the
Middle Ages, that the workingman now
adays is “much inferior in ability to
support a family than were his ances
tors four centuries ago.” And how thor
oughly in keeping with the truth Hal
lam is in making this remark is
strikingly illustrated by the rates of
wages and prices of some articlesof con
sumption at that time. Wage ranged
from threepence to fivepence per dav ;
but an ox could be bought for twelve
shillings, a sheep for one shilling and
twopence, butter was three farthing per
pound, cheese one halfpenny per pound,
and eggs twenty-five tor a penny. Com
nare these prices with those of to-day.
Let us say that the average wage of
the laboring classes 400 years ago was
fourpence oer day and that of today is
four shillings. Can a workingman pur
chase 100 per cent more now with his
four shillings than his ancestor could do
with his fourpence? Let us see.
His ancestor could purchase an ox for
thirty-six dav’s pay, but now it will take
120 days’ pay to buy one at £2O. Then
again, a sheep could be bought for three
and a half davs’ pav; now it will take
eighteen davs’ pav to buy one. With
one-fifth of a davs’ pav he could pur
chase a pound of butter (not butterine);
now; >t takes nearly a half day’s pay to
get an equivalent. His ancestor could
get twenty-fivj eggs for the fuurth of a
day’s pay ; now it takes more than a half
dav’s pay. And as for cheese, a very nec
essary article, his ancestor couldbuva
pound for the eighth of a day’s pay,
whereas now it takes nearly a fourth.
Is this progress? I think it is retro
gression with a vengeance. But we
ought to have been making progress dur
ing that long period. The population of
England was then about 3,U00,000; now
it is about 36,000,000, or twelve times as
many. Is the country now, with all its
knowledge, its scientific discoveries, and
mechanical inventions, not more than
twelve times ns wealthy as it was 400
vears ago? I shall be greatly under the
mark if I sav that it is at least 1,000
times more wealthy. Where has all the
increase gone? I will leave this unan
sw red. It certainly has not gone to the
wealth-producers.—Christian Leader.
IRRIGATION CONVENTION.
Resolution* Passed by the Council of
Federated Trades and Labor
Organizations.
For the Enoulrer.
There is now sitting in this city an
Anti-Riparian Irrigation convention,
having a large attendance from all parts
of the state. The cause which has
brought the delegates together is well
expressed in Judge North’s remark that
“tne supreme court having ghen a great
proportion of the good land in the state
to a few riparian owners, now seems
anxious to give them all the rivers also.”
Practically the quarrel hitherto has
been merely between the cattle kings,
represented by Miller & Lux, who wish
that the water shall be left untouched
for the use of their herds, and the land
grabbers, represented by Haggin A
Tevis, who wish to be able to use the
water for irrigation purposes when and
as they choose.
The convention, which is largely com
posed of la :d-ownersand farmers, has
taken somewhat broader ground by de
claring "that all the rivers, streams and
lakes not rising or included in lands un
der private ownership belong to the
state.” In a word, they wish the state
for the future to keep a tight grip upon
its water rights, but will have no tamper
ing with the vested rights of pioperty
already acquired.
The Council of Federated Trades and
Labor Organizations has taken a far
more advanced stand by sending a com
mittee of five to the convention with the
following resolutions:
Whereas, The farmers of this state
are assembled in convention consideiing
the natural rights to the waters of the
eartn ;
Resolved, That this, the represents
tivr Council ol Federated Trades and
La oor Organizations of the Pacific coast,
extends o tnern its moral support, rec
ognizing that now as ever the farmer
feedeth all.
Resolved, That we coneider that the
only solution of the irrigation problem
is state ownership of the irrigation
ditches, and hope that this convention
will not place it.in the power of any set
of individuals to monopolize this or any
other source of life.
It is hoped that this action will tend
to further the, wished for ' alliance be
tween the farmers and the other produc
ing c hscs of the coast; but be this as it
may, the working classes will once more
have put themselves on record as the
true advocates of advanced and humani
tarian views. I. W. A.
' San Francisco, May 28.
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
A SOLILOQUY.
The Four-Legged Ass Solilo
quizes on the Condition of
the Monkeys,
Who Chew Tile Stuff and Carry
% Fire and Smoke Under
Their Noses.
Tha Common Sense of an Ordinary
Donkey Superior to a
Weak Intellect.
For The Enquirer. w
What am I, and how came I here?
Those beasts that walk on their hind
legs, like monkeys, and chew vile stuff,
and carry tire and smoke under their
noses, call me an ass.
I don’t mind what name they give me
as long as they do not degrade me bv
coupling my name with any of their
kind.
I object strongly to one of those pale
faced monkeys calling another an ass. i
It mav be very complimentary to the
other party but it is very humiliating to
me.
If these two-legged beasts attempt to
place themselves on a level Vith our
race I shall kick.
I have a great admiration neverthe
less for the power a few of these two
legged beasts have over the common
herd. The cheek of the few is sublime,
but the ignominious submission of the
many is contemptible. The few lav
back and do nothing, while the herd
prepare and bring to them all the choic
est dainties.
The toiling herd build fine dwellings
and handsome carri 'gee for the lazy and
impudent few, and are content to live in
hovels themselves. No ass in the world
would be guilty of such stupidity. If I
were to attempt to put up such a job
upon my kind I would be kicked to
death in less than five minutes. Anil
yet these pale-faced monkeys lay claim
to superior intelligence. They beg, pray
and fight among each other for the priv
ilege of toiling. No ass would he guiltv
of such foolishness. Tney toil on and
fill the' warehouses full of goods and
turn over the key to the cheeky mon
keys, who promptly lock the doors and
perform a cabalistic sign by placing
their thumb on the end of their nose
and extending their digits.
Then again do these foolish beasts
seek and implore for more work, not
withstanding they know the warehouses
are full of goods, laying idle and uncon
sumed. But their prayers are answered
with the same cabalistic sign ; or, if thev
are too boisterous, with shot shell.
I should like to know the secret of
this magic power, but I do not believe
one ass, were he ever so smart, could
hoodwink another like these pale faced
monkeys do one another.
These monkeys are a queer race ; over
us in some ways they seem to have an
advantage, but take the average and they
are a sorry lot. They live in the midst
of pleutv and go hungry. They go
naked, while there is an abundance of
clothes lying idle on shelves. They ig
nore the laws of nature, and obey the
rules laid down by their crafty oppres
sors.
These pale-faced monkeys may be in
tellectual, but intellectuality does not
fill their bellies nor clothe their backs,
and, until I see that it does so, I shall
continue to work as little as possible, and
feed upon the best I can get.
A weak intellect is worse than none at
all Like a razor in the hands of a
child, it is pretty sure to wound those
who possess it. This is reallvwhatis
the matter with these herds of white
monkevs to-day. Their weak intellects
are played upon by the crafty and
moulded to suit their plans. The prac
tical common sense of an ordinary don
key is superior to the philosophy of a
weak intellect. Ido not ass-pire to be
come a pale-faced monkey, nor to burn
fire under my nose. J. J. Martin.
San Feancisco, May 22.
THE ANTI-CHINESE MOVEMENT.
The “Better Classes” Fearful That the
Anti-Chinese Element Will Win In
the Approaching Election.
For the Enquirer.
Seattle, W. T., May 20 :—Tbe time of
the city election is approaching and
there appears to be much anxiety on the
part of the pro-Chinese element, lest the
anti Chinese jieople will win, as they
have won in Tacoma. There never was
a place where so much feeling and ac
tive w,jrk in election matters are mani
fested as in the ci tv of Seattle. There
seems to be a determination on the part
of the politicians to hold the fort at
every sacrifice. The contempt and ha
tred of the so-called better classe against
the laborers and their friends amounts
to a passion, and this will increase the
excitement of the canvass.
The so-called “better class” were for a
long time crying against agitation and
after the Chinese had a Tout all gone
agitation ceased, and the anti-Chinese
people have ever since done all in their
power to allay excitement, so that the
minds of the people could, with the
gooi prospects of a spring immigration,
be well prepared to work unitedly for
renewed prosperity and a revival of bus
iness. Tms had a g'»od effect, as for a
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