Workmen's advocate., January 24, 1886, Image 1

About Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891

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ADVOCATE,
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A'.
levies 2, ito. 17
itciu ituocn. (fonncctlcut;unl;m. ihuuuvii 24, ISSiS.
rvicc 3 Cents
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Ur
XOBLK SCIK.NTISTS.
INDOMITABLE SEARCHERS
FOR PRECIOUS TRUTH.
I inipprcHatitf (arhagf Killers- I ii
siirlilly Children nf Shapeless
Women lamlc Kjcs Set'
Mountains il lllllllllTll
Miles Away.
I low jih-asant it. is. :is one sits in
his i-iisv study, surrounded by all the
I a u rics (if our advanced civilization
to read of the new achievements
made each day. nay, one might say.
eacli lioiir, ly our unwearying
searchers after new facts, the rV-
iss.
Some who, owing to a lack of cii
tei'iirise or ability, are not surround
ed by all the " luxuries of our ad
vanced civilization ' mav cavil at the
furls w hidi ahsorli the attention of
our scieiitilic men. Hut what of
that:-'
We have noticed that diet has a
great deal to do with people's v iews
of things.
Thus, a man vv ho, owing to his in
capacity, is obliged to live oil the
garbage of the market, takes a very
unsatisfactory view of the estimable
gifts of scientific research. Such
people are continually calling atten
tion to the gaunt poverty vvliieli they
sav oppresses t hem.
I low inconsiderate.
Yes ; and not. content, with attract
ing notice to their personal destitu
tion, t hey must needs parade the de
formity id' want in all the ugl ncss
of its various aspects.
Thus do they, heedless of our re
fined sensibilities, persistently pre
sent to i hi i' gaze their unsightly
voting : the weazen-faced, hollow
eved and corpse-hucd children of the
Try poor. Then again, we must
needs be made uncomfortable by the
sight of careworn women, with faces
lined with trouble and Hushed only
with the hectic liucof the consump
tive ; eyes which speak only of the
" curse -( iod - and -die " feeling at
heart the hopeless, shapeless, un
lovely women of the toiling class.
Pint why should they not keep their
misery to themselves, who alone are
to blame 'i
How very inconsiderate !
That these people should tind no
charm in the victories of science is
not strange; they are too much wrapt
up in their own petty necessities to
note the onward march of the
trained thinkers of the world. Is it
not deplorable .
On the other hand, people who
have, by the inscrutable process of
evolution, attained the proud emi
nence of ipiail on toast, claret punch
and gold-mounted eye-glasses, feel
their hearts beat faster as they read
with joy unspeakable that :
" A discussion is going on among
Kuropean savants concerning the
distance at which large objects on
the earth's surface may lie visible.
F.mil MctzL'cr mentions that he once
saw. with some ditliciilty, Keiserspick
in Sumatra, when distant 11 Eng
lish miles. From I'izinnraun. near
Oisseutis. K. Hill has seen Mont
Jilanc. the intervening space meas
uring 1 in miles. ,1. Starkie (iard
ncr states that .Mont Plane is visi
ble from l'iz l.angard, though dis
' taut about three degrees, and from
Marseilles Zech saw Mount Coiiigon
at a distance of l."is miles. The
xv hole range of the Swiss Alps has
been looked upon by .1. Hippisley
when .' miles away: while Sir
William Jones has atlirmed that the
Himalayas have been seen at the
great distance of "J 44 miles." Sririt-
lifn' XnUs.
I low can any one. properly fed.
but feel tin' lhisli of admiration
mounting his face, when reading of
tin' noble devot ion of these trained
thinkers?
Surelv. he must be made of the
dmss found in the make-up of the
clod-hopper only, w ho docs not feel
that life is worth living when facts
like these are presented to this no
tice. Think of the terrible strain
upon the eyesight of these daring
men. as lliey scan the horizon for
distant mountain peaks ! Then con
sidc,r the terrible fatigue they must
undergo as they proceed, on foot to
be sure, to measure the distance w ith
a ten-foot pole, swimming across
broad streams and plunging through
mountain torrents, letting nothing
deter them until thev reach tin1
goal !"
Is t his not irraud .
Think of the indomitable pluck
and perseverance of these illustrious
men as they plod along under the
scorching rays of the noonday sun.
or the drenching rain of a v igorous
sou'easter, until they have deliuitely
settled the distance of some far avvav
huckleberry patch !
Is it not sublime?
Then rellect how, after t he " hair
breadth 'scapes bv Hood and field"
these noble men must needs discuss,
to the end that " truth may pre
vail " and that we, in our rosy stud
ies, etc-, may know a thing or two.
Perhaps some hi tor of a workman,
improperly and insiitlieiently fed, of
course, for which he alone is to
blame, may object that all this is a
useless waste of energy: this horn
" kicker " may intimate that if a lit
tle of this trained intellect devoted
itself to the solution of social prob
lems there would be less hunger and
misery in the world. Indeed, con
sidering the degeneracy of the times,
we should n't be surprised if some
low-born churl should intimate that
this measuring of distances is all
cdap-trap, and a direct symptom
of the prevailing academic idiocy.
I'eradvendture one of these mis
guided, and we may say, depraved
persons, will prepare an article full
of badly constructed sentences, for
one of the many it tint urttliul labor
papers, wherein he will endeavor to
ridicule our scholarly savants.
Such a person will have the bad
taste to throw any quantity of mud
at our pure-minded savants, and in
sist that they devote their bright in
tellects to the solving of problems
concerning sewer gas in tenement
houses, bad ventilation in our mines
and factories, and the like sort.
lint we are proud to know that
these assaults will come to naught,
and the pigmy missile of this de
graded proletarian will recoil harm
less f roin the bright armor of our
illustrious great.
Yes, and they will continue their
unwearying search for truth though
it leads them to the snow-capped
peaks of the Himalayas.
BIRMINGHAM.
There are few new developments in the
great strike. The ollicial boycott was
placed upon the Derby Silver I 'o.'s goods
mi .Monday, ami its effects w ill be far
reaching. The strikers are as tirnt a.s
ever, and every man is determined to
light to the hitter end. One failure has
liecn reported among the business men
ol the town, and more are anticipated.
Another strike has occurred among the
grinders in the ( 'ilver l'latel 'utlery ' 'o.'s
shop, involving about twenty-tive men.
but if continued, a hundred or more may
lie forced out of employment.
BRANFORD.
lireat preparations are being made for
a grand concert and ball by the Knights
of Labor. The ball w ill U a good, old
fashioned calico allair.
The Noble Order is in line condition in
liraliford, and the memliers enjoy a sort
of calm feeling of contentment and com
placent satisfaction.
A shoe peddler, who has lately made
his apliearalice here, was suspected of
selling Hrennan & White's boycotted
goods, and the jieople gave him a cool
reception as he went from house to In him1.
He could not understand the meaning of
the coolness, but when it was explained,
lie proved his innocence of the crime of
selling lMiyeotted goods, and all is right
again.
A little Scituate girl ended her
evening prayer recently w ith, " Cod
bless Sadie and May and the whole
business." Comprehensive and terse.
)hl Culniiif M'liiniin.
A S!lT.lxIN(! HAT.
WEALTHY SPECULATORS CRY
FOR MERCY.
Hit ) Krug Still Tliej Arc Not lluppv.
Ion r Squeak Answered -Jus-t
ice Uciiiiiinl 1 1 l.alior
Sleeps Not (In to
Victor).
As is known to our readers. Or
ganized Labor is putting the rat
Xt'trs through a course of sprouts for
the unjust reduction of the price of
composition on that waning lumi
nary by the wealthy men who own
the sheet. 'Twas but a repetition of
the oft-practiced Scheme to l'ob the
laborer of his reward. W hile tin
I'h'kiii and ilrtjislrr were paying forty
cents per thousand ems for night
work, the wealthy nabobs of the
X rir-s enforced a reduction of five
cents per thousand ems. and tilled
the places of the union men (who,
in obedience to their pledge of honor
left I he office) with rats crcat ures
without principle or proper intelli
gence, miserable and degraded tools
of avaricious capitalists, scorned ami
loathed by honest workmen. The
bosses, with the bold effrontery of
their kind, would listen to no argu
ment, but sttibbornly asserted their
"right "to conduct their business
as they saw lit. This they have done
for the past liftceii months with in
different success to the bi'st of our
knowledge, but. if we may take the
word of their mouthpieces, wi'.V
very satisfactory results to the Morn
ing News Company. So. then, the
nabobs "(inducted their little specu
lation to their entire satisfaction,
and the printers and their friends
began to let the Xi'irs severely alone;
in other words, it was boycotted.
I, A HON SI.KKI'S MIT.
Time Hew swiftly on, and in its
flight brought new cares and new
joys to the people of this city and
vicinity. The wealthy men who
owned the Xi'irs found the paper
sinking into oblivion, and their
agents began to drum up trade, and
incidentally endeavored to create
the opinion among the honest sons
of toil that the diHiculty with the
printers was all settled, and actually
succeeded in gaining a little of their
lost prestige. Hut Organized Labor
slept not. The local assemblies of
the Noble Ordered' Knights of La
bor, who recognize the fact that "an
injury to one is the concern of all,"
gave public notice to their friends
that, the Xnrs was still under the
ban of honest Labor, and requested
a continuance of the boycott. The
brotherly sympathy of the workmen
was aroused afresh, and they busied
themselves to acquaint their friends,
the mere hunts, with the danger that
j threatened their business interests.
! should their advertisements be found
; in the objectionable sheet, and many
; of them heeded the friendly warn
ing. It was not the intention of the
workers to injure their friends who
ignorantly allowed themselves to be
cojoled into advertising in the col
umns of the disgraced newspaper.
: no: hats sy i kak.
For some reason or other the very
i wealthy and speculative owners of
: the Aii'.v. through their hired wer-
vants. sought out one of the com
mittees who were appointed to hear
; the squeaks and wails of the coii
, dcinned, and vicariously squeaked to
' this effect:
Sijttfith L For every subscrilicr
lost we have gained two.
Sijiifitk I. You ought to admit
the men in our employ into the
I'nion. if we pay them the price.
S'iifiti' !. Yon should not require
us to pay for the boycott.
Sijiiiiik- 4. Why can't you leave
this to arbitration ?
To which Organized Iibur:
A a sin riit f S' ii f iik 1. Then why
do you squeak?
Ahsh'i ri inj S'jit, ,d- '. c arc not
contending for the henclit of rats,
but that honorable iin ion men should j
receive fair wages : nor can we reas-!
onably ask t he union to take I raitors
into its fold.
.iisurriiiii .iinn,' .,, c nave
not sought any settlement vou
brought this trouble upon yourselves
and others. You nim I be taught that
Organized Labor is not to be insulted
with impunity. The small sum of
money you are required to pav repre
sents only a portion less than a
third of the costs of the boycott pro
voked by your own avarice.
A usirrriin Siinik J. This mat tcr
has been arbitrated by competent
authority. Again, we remind you
that we have no desire to have any
dealings with you. You gave Or
ganized Labor to understand that
you could conduct your ow u busi
ness. oil are at liber! V to do so.
The
I'lellllS
iniicsi Labor also
have the privilcgt
alone, and I hat is
done in this case.
lelllllg Voll
thai is being
II si b k.
Thus it will be seen that the work
ingincn with unerring aim are sim
ply enforcing vv hat .1 u si ice demands,
namely, that the wages of workmen
must Hot be reduced to meet the
exigencies of speculative capitalists,
or i; vi i la ii v Vi s.
In coutendingforgood wages! rgan
i.cd Labor is indirectly assisting I lie
dealers in commodities, for when
wages arc low, business is dull, and
many a merchant has succumbed to
the hard times consequent, upon the
greed of powerful capitalists who
prey upon the labor of t he people.
Therefore it is but natural fvr the'
merchants to take sides with Organ
ized Labor; and they are sure to re
ceive the bcnelit. of Labor's victories
in the long run.
BRIDGEPORT.
Over eight hundred persons attended
our Labor Lyceum yesterday afternoon.
Sum and substance of the many speeches,
all of which were in favor of the eight
hour work day, wcie :
1. The producers are ( he pillars of our
Republic.
We cannot a I lord losee these li lug
pillars reduced to tramps and coolies b
overwork in one par! ol llieycar, ami
i'iiiiseiiienl lack ol employment theother
part.
:t. When there is no! irurl: i-hoiiiIi fur
nil at ten hours a day, the hours of labor
should be reduced in a proportion as to
give those w ho are w illing to work em
ployment.
I. An eight hour normal work day.
if carried out simultaneously by all labor
organizations would not necessarily be
accompanied by a proportionate reduc
tion in wages, as the rates of wages are
not decided by the employes or wage
workers, hut virtually by (he army of
unemployed. The smaller the supply ol
the "commodity," labor, the larger the
reinuneral ion of ils owner, the wage
worker. .". Those workers who in I heir si lipid
it v and av arice are w illing to work ten
and sixteen hours a day. while Iheireom
rades are starv ing for uanlof employ
ment, o'e a danger to true democracy,
and it is lictter that these few should he
deprived of their liberty lo do haim to
the many, than that tin country should
lieeome a kind of paupers and millii ma ires.
II. The living capital, Labor, should
Hot In' l he slave of the dead capital, ma
chinery. 7. The int rodiict ion of an eight hour
normal workday enforced by organized
Labor and the slate legislation would do
ininish our so-called overproduction by
increasing the purchasing power of the
consumers, it would enable the workers
to study their ow u conditions and to dis
cuss the means for the total abolit ion of
wage slavery.
s. As laws for the lienctit of Labor
will always remain a dead Idler when
left in the hands of either of the capital
istic parties, the organized workers must
grasp the Mil it ical control of t he count ry
and send Irinl nu n out of tln ir ,,w n
midst into the legislature to execute the
will of the (people.
'.I. While the reduction of the hours
of l.almr will Hot solve the lalMir que
tioii. it would lie the tii'st and most mi
poitant step toward the t 'o-opeialive
I 'ommonw ealth.
When the chairman invited those w ho
were in favor an "l aghl Hour Workday "
to stand lip. the hole audience arose.
In reply to some malicious allegations
of lot ul paper again-'t Socjali-iu. the
chairman read the platlormof tin- So
cialistic Lalxir Party amid refuted ap
plause. K. of L.
A LONDON LLTTh'li.
IRISH POLITICS AND WORK
MEN'S POLITICS.
laiulish Politic al I lie Merc) of an
Irishman Professional Work
iiimiicn shrewd Kailicnl.
Tliet uiise Advancing
in laiglanil.
I'.V thecoiirlesy of the Secrclai'V of
the executive committee of the Socialism-
Labor I'arty. we arc privi
leged lo prim a Idler from Mr. F.d
ward Avcling. son-in-law of Karl
Marx, and one of (he brain-workers
in the Knglish Labor movement.
LnMios , Ki, i v Mi, dan. !l. The
excitement about our parliameiitarv
election is over, and I he olie quest ioll
t hat all polit icians arc ask ing, and
none of them answering, is " hat
is to be done with 1 he I ri.-h ? " The
sight is at once interest ing and in
structive. Knglish politics practi
cally ill I lie mercy of Mil 1 1 isji dic
tator ! It is a delight ful outcome of
the infamous treatment of Ireland in
and out of parliament, these eighly
live years past.
Il is very ditlicuif lo say what
eit her of I he I wo ' ' great pari ies "
will, or even can do. Lord Salis
bury, I think, dare not hint al home
rule in any form, and all hough Mr.
i ladstoue has been I ry ing to sound
the feelings of his party on the mai
ler, he has found I his lishing in very
troubled waters. The journal that
is supposed lo know rather more ol
Mr. i lai 1st line's mind than he knows
himself, Thr Ihtihj A ri's, has boldly
and iinbliishingly declared for a. par
tial home rule for Ireland. I sav,
" iinbliishingly," as I his journal has
steadily opposed the idea of any con
cession to he I rish, until wit Inn t he
last few weeks. Now il has com
pletely turned its coal and is writing
in I'av or of home rule as if il had ad
vocated t he principal all its life.
This boldness ot 77r lUtihj Srtt's
is si little premature. Scarcely any
even of the radical papers have fol
lowed the lead and it seems fairly
evident that the liberal parly is as
afraid as ihe conservatives arc of
graining anvlhing like parliamen
tary freedom lo the Irish. Mr. Llad
stolle's bid. therefore, even after its
endorsement bv '' Ihiilij Xi'irs.
has, instead of uniting his party and
giving tlieni a watchword, only di
vided tlictn and given I hem a bone
of contention. If any proof of this
Were needed it is furnished by Ihe
signilicent fact that the journals that
were a week or two back full of home
rule projects, arc now discussing
nothing more serious than the rules
of procedure in parliament.
It is thus altogcl her impossible to
forecast what will happen when an
open parliament assembles. Indeed,
one may reasonably doubt whether
e en t he leaders of I he I hl'ee par! ies
are very clear as lo I he course events
will take. Probably oiilv one of the
three feels quite certain ill respect
to t he line of act ion he will pursue.
His certainty ofj'eeliug is hc to the
fact that he k hows exact ly what he
wants. The conservative govern
ment arc said to be at work on a
scheme for local government u r,..
Jand. but not even the conservative
government believes that the Irish
will be satislied with such a small
sop lo such a Luge Cerberus.
hie very delightful thing about
the new parliament is that the in
creased numbers of the National
Irish members will enable them prac
tically to do away with all the rules
for coercion in parliament that were
passed in the winter of ls-j. ',
checkmate the obstructionists, eigh
teen rule- in al! were framed. Put
whilst tiny were all framed with an
eye to Mr. Parnell and his party,
thev weje framed ly a house of com
mons that never dreamed of that
party numbering over eighty mem
bers of parliament; forty is the gen
eral number required to prevent the
cloture in the two or three different
forms devised by the liberal party,
Ol course Mr. Parnell will now have
as a rule, tw ice (hut number at his
disposal, without t he necessity of en
list ing i he sen ices of any of the con
servative gentlemen, who naturally
expect payment for t hose devices.
Anot her point on which we may
be quite certain in t he new parlia
ment is that the workingmen repre
sentatives will be of little or no use
in workingiucn. In the first place,
without being loo harsh a critic, ono
may say that the majority of the
very small minority of the working
class members, have no intention
whatever of serving the class they
are supposed to champion. It is
doubly necessary to say this, because
my friend. Lawrence tironlund, in a
recent letter to you, unintentionally
misled your readers, lie spoke of
Mr. (!e urge Unwell usa genuine labor
candidate. The mistake is in a
sense excusable for one who has
been in Kngland so short a time tw
( roiiliind.
country a li
taken coiinsi
workingmen
have learned
lad he been in this
lie longer, or had he
of any of the actual
of London, he would
it Mr. (! corgi; Howell
is. of all the workinginen that have
si Id themselves to the masters and
betrayed t heir fellows, the most noto
rious. As one slight example: the
last time that the present writer met
Mr. Howell in public was ata meet
ing in the Fust cud of London. Mr.
Howell, on that occasion, lectured in
the place of Sir Thomas Prassly, the
railway capitalist ami owner of the
yacht Sunbeam, lie not only took
the place of this man he used his
arguments. The meeting of work
ingmen and women for the niot
part, carried by an overwhelming
majority a resolution in tL. .v .
tecih of trie lecture Mr. Howell hud
given. At that same meeting ho
was challenged to a debate on the
wage quest ion by myself. The chal
lenge was repeated ill print, but has
never been accepted. For most of
your readers it, will be enough to say
that Mr. Howell was a member of
Ihe International; that he deserted
il when the Paris commune broke
out; that, in the capitalistic press he
afterwards misrepresented the organ
ization whose chief misfortune was
I he connection with it of Mr. Howell
age and his like.
As to t he rest of the workingmen
members, they are for the most part
of the same stamp. In the horrible
at inosphcre of I he House of Com
mons they would be seduced from
any allegiance they might have to
the workers, even if they had not un
dergone a preliminary preparation
for I heir debauching by the patrou
of t he masters.
One sign of the times is that Mr.
15 rad laugh, whom, for justice sake,
all socialists wish to see in parlia
ment, threatens, if he gets in, to ask
for statistics of the relations between
capital and labor, livery one knows
What the statistics will be of no value
an. I that one death by starvation is
worth more as evidence of the state
of things than all the tigures in the
world. Put it. is something to see
one of the most shrewd of the radi
cals playing this particular card.
Is ppose your readers will want
to know what is thought in thisconn
try of the action of certain members
of the Social I leinocratio Federation"
in obtaining money from the Tories
under false pretences at the last elec
tion. The subject is an unsavory
one. Let us hasten over it. The
condemnation is universal. Even
the bourgeois press, whose morality
might have prevented them from
understanding the nature of the
ill action, condemned. Socialist or
ganizations and journals have pro
tested and disclaimed. Many brunch
es and private members of the Fed
eration have done the same. In
these last cases, all reports and let
ters adverse to the receivers of the
money have been suppressed in .,'
tin'. Yet in the face of this and
of the unanimous expression of
opinion of your paper, of the Snzial
i, mil nil '. of hi- SiH'iaisfe, of the
'intltniitil nil fourth lltjr.
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