Newspaper Page Text
Voi- 8— No. 18. Whole No. 3^ THE LABOR ENQUIRER. Published Weekly by •Tim (’O-nIKKATI VE I .A BOR KSQUIRRR PUB i.ishino Compart.” MW!Curtis Htrest, Denver, Cola J. J. CALLAHAN, KdUer uE ~—■ Official Organ of D. A. 89, Knighlt oj laoot, The Labor Enquirer it alto the Official Organ of the ( men labor Party of Colora do. It it the only /after which contairu the official proceedings of the Trades Assembly of Denier, and it the mouth-rnect of all the organised toiler* west of the Nfittittippi rirer. Tim I.AHOH Knquirkk O publUbed every Hitturilny. It will be tievalsd to the dleeue ilon of ell subjects which tend to educate, Blpvntp »nd AdvAone the laboring clueae. HuMcrlptlon rate*, II.V) in Rdvonce. All diiiimnnioßtlonE mnet be Addreeaed to Tim l.a now Knquimrk, IMS CnrtU Hlreel, Denver Colorado The jiubllsliersorthl* paper ere not reepon ■lblc for rtf oplnlone of contributors. The columns will always be open for the dlsctls ■lon of all sides of the telior questions of the dey. Hill K K rontrlhutlona el weya welcome. "We will renew the tlmee or truth end Jna tlce, CondenalnE In A ie<r, free commonwealth Not reah ei|UAllty, but equal rlghte " "Who would be free, hlmacir null atrlke the blow.” SPECIAL NOTICE. Those ofimr subscribers who receive their papers wllh Ihelruddreaa printed on thenier * n will ple.iae notice the date After the neme hi It denotea the dele to which they heve ■mid up. For IsalAnoe: "John Hmlln 9-1-7" inhena iliet Mr. Hniltli hea paid to Meptember I. IHH7, ikiid on lhAt ilAtc hl> subscription be come* again due. If "o' ~>ncwed promptly without further correapond with ua At once end 0 f you fell to re ilelntent once to poetmeiiter. tofflee ee second lON. om the min ar meeting of 'Co-operative lishing Corn sent editor of rtermined to in with the / refore be it j stockholders carry on the , and hereby ig up of the jn or. before discretion of 181'R. stockholders tionary with ager as to hould be is : during the it ween April Is at liberty ;rs that this .HOSAL. inted at the needs little ' course well ends of the ways had a irncc; always or. It could a. man or a in unpopular :t hardship, rewards us . .. him who at tempts to popularize an idea based upon strict and impartial justice. As far as the editor is | .rsonally concerned lie is free to confess that the burden he lays down is parted with very willingly, as the experience lie has had since he succeeded to the business mana gership of an institution which he found with an empty treasury has been such as he desires to avoid in future. There is much that might be saiil which might perhaps better be left unsaid. At a funeral of this kind the party occupying the first mourning bench is supposed to be filled, if not with woe, with a good big load of bile and bitter ness. I’ve no weighty load of woe ; neither have I much of bit terness of feeling. Bitterness of fee' :g generally arises from dis *.q ointment. I have not been i|i %i|fuinted by the death of the Kxquirf.r, as the headstones in the graveyard of labor papers are not so scarce but that we may fa miliarize ourselves with and be come accustomed to deaths of this kind., Neither do I feel inclined to sulk with a sore head and com plain of the "lack of appreciation of my efforts,” etc., as the En quirer has many good, true, warm and faithful friends whose gener ous purses have saved its life many THE LABOR ENQUIRER. times in past ysJs. They would do so again, but they will be spared any further sacrifice, as those who have been the solicitors have grown more weary of the asking than the givers have of the giving. TO SUBSCRIBERS. The subscription lists of the Enquirer will be sent to the Chi cago Enquirer and the latter will fill out all unexpired subscrip tions. With feelings of regret is no ticed the suspension of the Chi cago Alarm . It is to be hoped the suspension will be but tempo rary. No more honest paper ever battled for humanity, and its loss will be deplored by those who ap preciate devotion to principle and forgetfulness of self. A Female Wage Slave. London Saturday Review. The English drudge rises early and goes to bed late, working eight or twelve hours a day, either in her miserable garret or in a huge manufacturing hive. Pinched with hunger and cold, worn out with labor, exposed to temptation and degradation, her joyless life stretches behind her and before her, with no pleasures to look back upon, no hope to look for ward to. THc wages she cams, those wages which proudly sepa rate her from the slave, arc barely sufficient to keep body and soul together, till at last the body gives way or the soul revolts. Then comes the inevitable end, and a verdict of "death from starvation" or "found drowned" closes the scene. • JACK FROST. MY V. TrVNANT. One calm, cloudless night when the sliver moon Hhone, ' Jack Kro*t flrut bethought him of III; With 111* chariot guy jtml fleet-footed Hired*. Would ride forth to conquer or kill. Kar In Hnow-land he lived In n cattle of Ice— A beautiful, glittering thlnir. Whose .turrets tthd fulls tlmne n* gold In fu moonlight, a (love * p< ariy wine. When liomeward he Journey ed from rul.ek ing lark*. To guide him he d forty bright HtnrK; A table well spread with snowg’akce und bread i To fea*t on—till* w ager of wart. Had and moody grew Jack. The«e thing* failed to plea*e him. He alghed e* he thought of fair Innd* Deyond hi* domain, fnr. far to the eolith, Where bright river* *!ng o ei| Ihc *und*. Without touching or (anting 111* cup of Ice-tea, He Ktralghltrn.v began to prepare To conquer and win, by fair mean* or foul, The wealth which he coveted there. Then hruahlng the Hakes from hi* *oft, downy wraps, Donned quickly hi* garment* of light; a And to cover the face < f dying und dead lie carried n veil Illy white. Ixiud laughing he t,o**e '■ from hi* gray lock* the *nnw; Then hound the wild Wind* with a chain Ho rtrmly 'twere u»ele**hir freedom 10*1 live. Ho long a* King Jacket* shoul I reign. Then were brought to hi* door lit* chariot an i lour— Hpeed, Sparkle, good I.lghtfoot and Urey— With a Jump and a about proud Jackey tva* off. To ride till the dawning of day. O'er plain* dark and dreary.o'er rough road* he rode, Great Ice-fleld* he pasted with delight; O'er cavern* and rocks in safely he flew, "nrheoked In Itl* wonderful flight. Down to woodland he rushed till the tree* sobbing cried For summer's gay mantle of green; The still pools he pierced with needle* of Ice— A beautiful picture 1 ween! The leave* of the grape-vine to powder he crushed. The fruit sought rudely to mangle; But only the sweeter the ripe cluster* grew, That hung In a 'wltdering tangle. Then'off through the valley a corn-field he •pled Which held It* sharp sword-leave* on high; With one single blow the sword-leave* lie dulled. Then left them 'o curl up and die. 'Cross a meadow lie hurried and ‘round him there bowed Millions of brown-crested grasses; The sweet prairie flower* slow shivered and died. A* o'er them he cruelly passes Ne*t up to a cottage lie frantlc'ly steered, Happed iwlec a< a door doubts barred; Turned iitin quickly about tils vengeauee to wreak OB blooms which he ruefully marred. Then out to the garden In anger he ran To And where the "love-apple* tgrew; He spared not the fruit, he spared not the vine*. Hut pinched them until they were blue. But sorrv and vexed wa« the gentle housewife W hen she spied at the door In the morn. All crumpled and white Jack's glove on the •111. And al I her fitlr garden vl no* gone. To the east then Jack veered, but he met lovely Da *n With lances all rosy and bright; Slowly he wheeled his gay chariot about, for be feared the great King In bis might Straight northward he dashed but befpre he reached home His chariot fell with a crash; H is horse* now wearied would hurry no more. No matter how hard he did lash. In bewildering dismay Jack bustled about To fold up hi* blankets of white; Fast, fast fell his tears that he now must return To hie gnat, chilly castle of light . But fate was against him; a glittering N-\m Unconsciously bowed the proud heed. And looted from but clasp the toft garments When,*} W°t'e h poor Croat King wbsdJad. WOMAN’S COLUMN. Edited bjr Era. A. L. Wtakkßtß. "Human beings, like trees, grow from and upon the soil. The eatrh like a wise parent supplies the germ. * • Like trees, also, do souls attract to, and assimilate with themselves qualities of con genial substance from the organ isms and from the atmosphere of universal nature. “You will observe that trees ab sorb vitality and substances from the earth and the atmosphere, which is generated by and thrown out from all the planets in space. And thus you see giant trees building themselves up—adding ton after ton of substance, limb and leaf—without in the least di minishing the size or weight of the ground, which they so beauti fully refine, refresh and decorate. “So it is with human souls. Minds absorb vitality and sub stances in generaal from the at mosphere, which is generated by and thrown from all the spiritual spheres. Therefore you will perceive that there is a spir itual atmosphere withinin the material atmosphere. The soul feeds on the one, the body upon the other; until by a refining pro cess, they blend into one whereby the spirit is made to increase in substance. And as you see trees grow ing without diminishing the earth so you also see souls multi plying and building themselves up —bringing into the world new thoughts and principles—without exhausting the spiritual Fount which they correspond to and rep resent. You will remember the exact analogy, that trees grow by at tracting and assimilating to them selves the terrestrial atmosphere which is thrown from all the planets; and that souls grow, in a ing and assimilating to themselves the celestial atmosphere which is thrown from all the spheres. Therefore, human minds, like trees, grow large and beautiful, or, like trees, remain sometimes small and deformed, strictly in accord ance with their origin and subse quent situation. Minds possessing an equal amount of spiritual life, though of dissimilar tempera ments, will be drawn to associate with each other. As there are hundreds of different types in this respect, so there are hundreds of different associations. Hence the entire naturalness of sects and in stitutions; the inevitableness of parties, clanships and isolated nations. The Harmonial philos ophy should teach the world, therefore, to shake hands over its multiform distinctions: to forget all uncharitablenesff and draw a wet sponge over all animosities." Andrew Jackson Davis in The Great Hannonia, Vol. IV., The Re former. "Absolute purity of heart and life is the richest human posses sion; and perfect obedience to the highest attractions of the soul is the only means of its attainment.” - Ibid. V While the greatest enemy of social justice and equality of op portunity is the greed and selfish ness of men there are those who seek upon the mount of self-sacri fice the blessings of human happi ness, failing to find it often through this mistake: that they themselves in the higher nature instead of the lower; devoting themselves to worldly gain and sordid pursuits for some duty which they fancy requires it, forgetting that it is only in being true to our highest nature that we may expect any permanent good either for our selves or others. Therefore hu man happiness may be considered the first duty, this only being reached by obedience to the “highest attractions' of the soul.” Since money is sought for what it may buy let us seek other, surer, means of comfort by less sordid means. Taking up Ruskin’s "Ethics of the Dust” recently I was struck by the comments on gold and dla DENVER, COLORADO, MAY 5, 1888. ’ monds as given in the first lesson: “Well, those are the fatal jewels; native here in their dust with gqld, so that you miy see, cradled here together the t\to great enemies of mankind, —the strongest of all malignant physical powers that | have tormented our race. * * Was any woman ever the better for possessing diamonds? But . how many have been made base, frivolous, and miserable by desir ing them? Wxs ever man the better for having coffers full of gold ? But who shall measure the guilt incurred to fill them? Look into the history of any civilized nation; analyze, with reference to this one cause of crime and misery, the lives and thoughts of their nobles, priests, merchants and men of luxurious life. Every other temptation is at last con centrated into these; pride, and lust, and envy and anger all give up their strength to avarice. The sin of the whole world is essen tially the sin of Judas. Men do not disbelieve their Christ; but they sell Him. * * * Wherever legislators have suc ceeded in excluding, for a time jewels and precious metals from among national possessions the national spirit has remained healthy. Covetousness is not natural to man —generosity is; but covetousness must be excited by a given miasma; and the-essential nature of a material for the excite ment of covetousness is, that it shall be a beautiful thing which can be retained without a use. "The moment we can use our pos sesions to any good purpose our selves, the instinct of communicat ing that use to others rises side by side with our power. “If you can read a book rightly, you will want others to hear it, if you can enjoy a picture rightly you will want others to see it; learn how to manage a horse or a .desire to make your subordinates good horsemen, ploughmen, or sailors; you will never be abl£ to see the fine instrument you are master ot, abused; but, once fix your desire on anything useless, and all the purest pride and folly in your heart will mix with the desire, and make you at last wholly inhuman, a mere ugly lump of stomach and suckers, like a cuttle fish.” V * "The practical immediate effect of the earthquake and pestilence is to slay us, like moths; and, as moths, we Shall be wise to live out of their way. So, the practical, immediate effect of gold anddia monds is the multiplied destruc tion of souls (in whatever sense you have been taught to under stand that phrase) and the paraly sis of wholesome human effort and thought on the face of God’s earth; and a wise nation will live out of the way of them." "The money which the English habitually spend in cutting dia monds would, in ten years, if it were applied to cutting rocks in stead, leave no dangerous reef or difficult harbor around the whole island coast. * * Then also we poor mineralogists might have the chance of seeing a fine crystal of diamond unhacked by the jeweler.” The Herd Will Turn. The Detroit Commercial Adver tiser (capitalistic) prognosticates: "Slowly but surely a condition of affairs seems approaching that will force the masses into abject submission or determined revolt against the oppression of schem ing capitalists. _ It is a frightful state of affairs to contemplate, but it is folly to assert that events of almost daily occurrence do not point directly to coming peasant slavery or an era of poDular revo lution in the United States. * * The working classes are being driven like a great herd of cajttle up a slowly narrowing canon. When they reach the impassable cliffs they will turn, and the his tory of all race or class oppres sions will be repeated.” King Piano Co. The next concert at the King Piano Co.’s rooms takes place Monday evening next. These concerts are noted for their high merit and are attended by the best element in the music-loving circles of Denver. Tke celebrated itiff hate from the Co operative Hat Company jaat received at Gbytoa’a. . PROHIBITION. A * \ Its Fallacy as a Preventive 1 . of Intemperance Point -1 ed Cut. i POVERTY BEGETS CRIME. . Prohibition Merely a Blind to Help f Divert Attention from the Real Cause of Poverty—lnjnstice. 1 ~~ ( For Mis Enamrer. The prohibitionists keep up a . dismal howl on the evils of the in- I temperate use of alcoholic liquors, , but drunkenness is only one of the pernicious outcomes of our I competitive system. This system . robs men of their earnings. This , prevents them from purchasing . the best qualities of liquors which do not by.any means take away the reason of men and make such maniacs of them as the poorer alcoholic drinks do. Pov , erty preventing men from acquir ing good liquors the genius of , the American is exercised in pro ducing a counterfeit and some thing that will satisy the cravings of the poor for a small expenditure of cash. It is the same demand that is • causing theestablishment of “soup ; houses" where refuse meat, flour 1 etc., is served out to the hordes of of the disinherited and the popu . larity of cheap lodging houses where men are herded together in close ill-ventilated, nasty, stinking . rooms. Granting, however, that drink , causes much crime and misery it [ is not conclusive evidence that the r world’s industrial conditions arc ; perfect as, prohibitionists assume, 1 and that liquor is the cause of a)J r — —l—u.. - ' ■ -^—i.i | , 5 moment that drunkenness r tinguished and the monopoly -of > natural forces and the compcti : five system still prevailed we : plainly see that men would cOn , tinue slaves of other men the same . as now, and although the ability : of the masses t-o produce would • be considerably augmented still : they would receive barely sufficient for existence and thousands would annually die from improper food, lack of proper clothing, overwork etc., as under the present regime. The prohibition reply to thd wage-worker, viz: “That his pov erty is due to drunkenness,” is an insulting, slanderous, reproach en tirely lacking truth, unreasonable, uncalled for and it is to be classed only with the curious freaks of nature sometimes manifested in minds whose training have made them narrow, bigoted, prejudiced and too weak to comprehend great questions. The prohibition party is well suited to the commercial gamblers, shylocks, real estate swindlers, corporation officials and their at taches of which it is largely com posed. These men desire to stifle discontent and divert the attention of the toilers from the main issue by trying to persuade them that intemperance instead of injustice is the primary cause of their suf . fering. I do not wishTo depreciate ; the value of temperance for it is an economical and admirable vir : tue the beauty of which cannot be too artistically portrayed, but temperance and prohibition are about as near related as are forty second cousins in the human fam : ily. The use of alcoholic liquors from a moral standpoint is no worse than drinking milk. Mill ; ions of dollars are yearly spent for milk which might be saved for : charities! When milk is as badly ■ adulterated as the liquors the poor must drink, it has equally as pernicious an influence on the brain and body. The prohibition [ principle is one of the last dying : embers of the idea that the right : to rule in all matters from a ques , tion of spiritual belief to that of j diet is with the strong and that the state must intermeddle in all private as well as public affairs. 1 The habit of drunkenness is de plorable indeed; but the way to' stop it is by establishing distribu tive justice which will enable men to have homes. whose attractive ness will offset the saloon influence. 1 F. H. M. WestClifFe, Colo., April 27’ Interesting Colony News. Editor Labor Enquirer. The first step in the upward progress of the Credit Foncier colony is the securing of a good farm on the Fuerte River four 1 miles below Ahome, on which we can raise enough to support a prosperous colony. This farm was secured by a contract entered into by A. J. Wilber, chairman of the Jocal bohrd of directors, fand Senor Ochas. A large amount of this land is now planted to various crops, and. we are getting all the vegetables we need. The farm is secured under contract for three years, with the right to purchase at any time within the above period. A good school-house has been estab lished and conducted by Dr: Shel house who holds a first-class teach er’s certificate for the state of California, and| several young me chanics of Ahome arc in attend ance. The farm is highly praised by the Mexican papers. The gov ernor of Sinaloa, San Francisco Caneda, visited the farm at La Logia and also came 011 to the Bay March 26, and expressed himself in the highest terms to ward the colony. He will be long remembered by the children whom he freely scattered new Mexican silver fresh from the mint; prom ised to give us all the assistance we may need in the land or any thing else. We are to snake our wants kno\\m. For this purpose he wished us to build our telegraph from the Bay to Fuerte and they will assist us to do so-. This is the next step in advance, The contract has been drawn up probably by this time. We are „,Vuo„V 1( Lill e 1 inc . froll ‘ thf n ßa v~ J Constantia; and probably Ahome, and when built to operate the same. We are to furnish the in sulators etc., and the state will .furnish poles and dijf the holes for us on very favorable terms. This will connect our various camps, and connect us with Culi can the state capital, also Mazat lan and Guay mas in Sonoro, as wel las with the outside world. The third step in advance will be the arrival of the relief corps, as it is called, from the states, with the printing press now on its way, and whom we are expecting daily. Then our papers will be published, here at the Bay, in our own pleas ant home, It is reported that they are now in Guaymas awaiting the city of Topeka steamboat, to bring them here. I will give you further information in future. Thomas Young. Topolobampo Bay, Sinaloa, Mex ico, April 11, 1888. Cut Loose. At a recent meeting of the anti poverty society Congressman Smith said: Think of a country only 112 years old and the people so op pressed that they have to start an anti-poverty society. Horace Greeley’s idea is played out —thp man hat goes west to-day finds a poorer country than the one from which he started. The only thing that remains for you to do is to cut losse from all parties and build up one for yourselves. The dem ocratic or republican president is ruled by Wall street, but when we get into power we will wipe out Wall street and squeeze all the water out of the deluged stocks and bonds of the country. In the halls of congress I have discovered that it makes no difference when you want to amend the constitu tion for the benefit of civilization, the republican as well as the dem ocrat pulls you back and says: “For God’s sake don’t touch the constitution, it might go off and hurt somebody.” The largest store. The largest stock. The latest styles. And the lowest prices in men’s and boya’ bate and caps at T. 8. Clayton’s, 285 and Fifteenth street. N. B. —Until further notice my atore wiU ' be dosed on Sundays. - : $1.50 Per Year.—s Cents Per CdPY i| "THEIRON LAW" Quotations from thtJ ator of the Famous " jrlß Phrase, ,fIH DEATH BY SLOW STARYATIOILgI Mr. Cohen Aski Mr. MlUett So— Jffffj Questions Ob an Interest* ■ jfl Ing Point. 9 1 * _ ■jfiLm . * ■ \ For the Enoulrei. /■ Max Nordau in his ‘Convea- ' J§ tional Lies,” has said that the law of wages was “a Jesuitical . .9 play upon words intended to quiet the uneasy conscience of the rich.” 9 That this statement of Nordau is false I will try to prove by quoting, . v| what Prof. Ely says on the subject." -Tpi This is the way Lasalle expressed it to the laborers of Frankfort iff' 91 an eloquent speech which has not WM yet ceased to be a power in Ger- jlB many: jS “What is the consequence that law, (the iron law of wages), la 9 which as I have proved to you accepted by all political econo- -mB mists? What is the consequence of the same? I ask. You believe,. perhaps, laborers and fellow-citi zens, that you are human being 9 <K that you are men. Speaking from « the standpoint of political econo- ,9| my, you are nothing but a com- (H modity, a high price for which in creases your numbers, just as a high price for stockings increases ”|BS the number of stocking's, if ther*r*||||| are not enough of them; and you are swept away, your number is. diminished by small wages—by .-9 what Malthus calls the preventive ; tB and positive check to population. S Your number is diminished, just fl as if you were vermin against which shirty wages war." much shorter thff.'—BrSge’ of is among the laboring -«fa | than among the wealthy. i l demonstrates to them that pov T ■ and insufficient food means star vation. 9 “There are, gentlemen," says he, fill “two ways of dying of starvation. 9 It, indeed, happens seldom a II man falls down dead in a moment from hunger; but when a man is 9| subjected to a greater expenditure of power than he is able to replace 11 If on account of poor food «r a mis- V |K erable mode of life—when he TH gives out more physical energy 9 than he takes in—then, I say, dies of slow starvation." 9 Rehearse this in a thousand dif- '.|a|j ferent ways and with all there- .31 sources of oratorical art, to labor- 9 ers really ill-fed, ill-housed, and • ! tt ill-clothed, and you shall indeed J 9 find yourself soon standing upon a volcano, whose forces are no TjS longer latent and slumbering.— French and German Socialism. 1 I want to ask Mr. Millett, who 'J®! defends Nordau’s statement, if such speeches as the above tend to quiet the "uneasy conscience of % the rich?” The second question I ® would like to ask is: How is it J that capitalistic economists, when 1 they attack socialism, try to dis- 1 prove the "iron law?” I Here are two associated press dispatches which explain them selves: “Berlin, August 28,1887.—The police authorities have forbidden 1\ all persons to commemorate the I anniversary of the death of Ferdi nand Lasalle, on pain of imprison ment for two years." “Berlin, August 30,1887.—The police order forbidding socialists to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Lassalle did. not have the desired effect. Thirty thousand fol lowers of the great* socialist made pilgrimages to his tomb at Granau yesterday.” Does Mr. Millett think that the German authorities' would have ' forbidden what they did, if Lasalle "b, was the friend of the rich? and would the workmen turn out 30,- 000 strong under penalty of two Mjj§ years’ imprisonment if lu; had been * their enemy? RespectiuDy, Henry Cohen. . i