Workmen's advocate., March 14, 1886, Image 2

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

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J.
'WORKMEN'S ADVOCATE.
'4
1
1 1
Iu Wlorlimcn's rtuocatc,
THE OrflClAl. JOI'HNAI. or TI1K llllllANI.KI)
WOHKMKN nr MfW IUVKN AI VI
CINITY HKPHKHKNTmi IN TIIK
TRADES COUNCIL OF NEW HAVEN,
IWirKU HY TIIK
THADKH ('OUNl'lh ITW.ISIIINU COMMITTEE
KVEIIT Hl'NDAT KilllNINU.
i Ollloe, Traded Council Hall, Ttii) ( Impel St,
I'litilUlied fur Hit' iuiiiHe of pounturaittliiK tlie
evil lnltuuiii'0 of the corrupt cupltullstlo ru
by printing the truth hikI plurlnif lii-f..ri the
working people food for thought anil rffleetlon
upon their IndiiHtrlul, wwlul ami polillcul ennill
tloim, to the entl tlmt they nmy eiimiiclpiitu
IheniKelvei from wiiite uluvery ami litmllnnllsiii.
Interesting corrcKpomli'iii'i' mllrltrcl fmni pro
liitarluiiK In all pai'tK or Hie world. Letter re
.-iiilrlK aiwwerx mIihuIiI eontalir return poxliiKe.
Addreni till coinimmlnitlon to
Workmen' AiIkiciiK',
l O. Itruwer New llnven, Conn.
NUIINCIUITION K.VI'KS
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f I (Ml
'''' Months " - - S
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tWThu paper will tie stopped promptly upon
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INTKIIKI) AT TIIK lllMTOKm K AT NKW IIAVKN, IIIN
NKTII'IT, AH HKI ONI) I'l.A-M M ATTKII
- Nkw IIavkn, M a iu ii II, lKrtti.
THE HIRELING PRESS.
y Now thai victory upon victory has
crowned the efforts of Organized
Labor, and aggressive Capital in !
ginning to feel a check placed upon
, it, the ordinary daily press is con
strained to make reports of labor
matters or forfeit its claim to being
a dispenser of news. Nor are the re
ports quite so distorted but that
intelligent readers can gather from
them some idea of the facts, even
though it is necessary, sometimes, to
"read between the lines. " It is often
the ease that a report is capped with
a heading that betrays the editor's
prejudices, and is intended to warp
! the readers' judgment. For instance,
a report of the side-l rack ing of freight
trains and the tc inporary disabling
of engines is headed "Cowardly
Work of strikers;" yet the same edi-tew-WWidd
never think of calling the
blae.klistif( of poor laborers the
"cowardly work" of capitalists.
That seems ncrfcctlv riirht to the
hireling quill-drivers. Speaking of
a strike ami the employment of scabs
in a factory, one of capitalistic pa
pers said that the scabs were not
molested by the strikers. With
'f- equal sense might a labor paper say
s j in reporting a lecture by some rcv
;A, S crend 1 . I . : "llcdid not murder the
audience." But there is a perceptible
improvement in the tone of the
1 papers towards Organized Labor.
Capitalistic writers seem to have
agreed that Organization has come
V to stay, and their main endeavor now
-, will be to make organization as in-
Vtualas possible. They will coin-1
. '.'lid this or that individual who
kVduics "prominent" in the move
j J Tent - perhaps one who has received
. ic nomination of one or other of
ihe political parties and thuscre
) A partisan feeling among men in
., I ) organizations; or the cunning
i t ners of the scribes mav direct that
-ee trade or protection, as may suit
jheirjuirpose.be deftly woven into
: discussion upon the interests of a
JF?tain class of workmen, and thus
warp their judgment; or. as is now
" frequently the case, they will bestow
praise upon the most conservative
and reactionary organizations and
' 'their net hods, and by this means
endeavor to flatter the workmen into
the belief that their salvation lies in
conservatism and subordination to
the present order of things. In this
connection we may remark how very
jlicitous the capitalistic papers are
flion the subject of arbitration; and
is a grand thing from their point
f view, to be sure; even the mere
pretense of arbitration, it seems, sat
isfies? their vanity and takes the edge
off defeat.
Workingnien should be slow to
take advice from these paiers they
arc only attempting to accomplish
by strategy what private capitalism
has heretofore accomplished by force.
MICHAEL DAVITT.
Of all the Irishmen who are prom
inent in the cause of Ireland, Michael
Davitt commands the most respect
among advanced labor reformers.
His patriotism is not narrow, for he
includes in his noble work the cause
of workingnien especially. If he
has not the large following of more
pretentious patriots it is because of
this fact. His advocacy of the in
terests of Labor, in connection with
Ireland's cause, is not exactly to the
liking of the capitalist class, who see
in Irish "freedom" only a better op
portunity to use Irish labor for their
own benefit. Therefore it is to work
ingnien that Mavitl's labors are par
ticularly valuable, be they Irishmen
or men of other nationalities, lie is
honored by Knglish workingnien as
few other reformers are. ,nsliec,
the organ 'if the Social I feinocracv,
printed in Loudon, had the follow
ing not ice of I lavitt in its issue of
February Li:
''.Michael ll;i ill has gone illln Wales
to Mir up an agitation ami to I'm in a
l.ainl League. No in ililer iiiinileil man
ever worltcil anil Mitl'crtnl mi liehalf ol'
liis fellow men, anil the la) will come, is
ieilias nearer at hand than some of us
think, w hen the w hole civilized world
will have for him the same honor and
lill'ectioli that is llow fell hy all those who
know him. Il is iniliahe that .Michael
Davitt will follow 1 1 1 his trip to Wales
hy a tour through Kiinlaml and Wales
on hehalf of Home Rule for Ireland.
There is no hojie for the coilc of either
country exeent in the intelligent union
of the three democracies for common so
cial Kood. No maii living could point
this out with greater force than the
Irishman whom Kuglish win kingmen
delight to honor.''
With such gen nine affection among
organized pioneers of the labor move
ment in Kngland for Michael I lavitt
it is not strange that ierinans. and
Americans should look to him for
still more active work in the Held
of Organized Labor. And the mo
tion made by Hro. (leorge A. Schil
ling, of Chicago, in .hihii Siriiimi's
I'oicr, that Michael Davitt be called
upon to accept, a commission as or
ganizer of the K. of L. among our
British fellow-workers, will no doubt
be seconded by members of the
Order throughout the I'nited States,
with the hope that means will be
found to bring it about, and thai
M ichael I lavitt will accept the re
sponsibility. CAPITAL'S MORALITY.
1'nder the heading of " The Cost
of Lawlessness," the New York
Times undertakes in one breath to
pat Organized Labor on the back,
saying no one disputes the right of
labor combinations, and then points
out to them as wrong and foolish the
course usually pursued to obtain
their ends the recourse tostrikes
the only course, through their help
lessness, in lighting injustice, open
to them. To begin with, it attrib
nlcsadiscrcditahleexhihitiou to law
lessness on the part of the strikers in
the recent horse-ear strike in New
York, and says " it would have been
a real service to the laboring man if
the Crand street mob had been
promptly put down and dispersed at
any necessary cost of life and limb,"
to uphold the LAW. It is wise that
the Times waited until after the
trouble before offering such advice.
Could any saying be more foolish
and rash?
Suppose for a moment, that the
police had through orders from their
superiors, used such forcible means
to control or repress the crowds
drawn together through excitement
and curiosity, and only iu part rep
resenting the men whose grievance
caused the trouble, and caused loss
of life. Is the Times insane cnouidi
to suppose that that would have been
the end? Would it not rather have
been the red cloth shaken to enrage
the bull? Instead of merely the in
convenience attending travel, we
venture to say that thousands and
thousands of dollars and many lives
would have leen sacrificed and the
metroolis would ! still trembling
with fear. o. Evidently this
would have been no wiy to convince
workingnien that t hough their griev
ances were just they must respect
laws unpractical and imperative and
submit without action. We doubt
if anything was done outside of law
by the strikers.
Public opinion is law, and the pub
lic showed its appreciation of this
fact by its sympathy and good na
ture during all its inconvenience.
The Times goes on to otter another
reason to the workinginan why he
should not use such means as strikes,
and it. tries to get a few ligures to
add force to ils words.
It is this in substance: You will
intimidate Capital, and as a conse
quence you will be thrown out of
work by its withdrawal from invest
ment. Kvidently the Times is a timid
sor:, of investor, or else thinks it, can
hoodwink labor concerning certain
well-known characteristics of Capital.
There are very few of the "one-talent"
capitalists about now-a-days,
and at best it would be only a trans
fer of investment from one individ
ual to another, if there was any
slight per cent, of profit at all.
What Capital will do is very well
summed up in what a well known
writer on political economy has
said: " With suMicient profit Capi
tal becomes daring; ten percent, cer
tain, and it can be had everywhere;
.' per cent., and it becomes lively;
."id percent., positively rash; for 10i
per cent., it tramplesail human laws
under foot; :!oii per cent., and there
is no crime which it will not venture
to commit, even at the risk of the
gallows. If tumult and disputes are
profitable, it will encourage them
both. Capital only abhors the ab
sence of profit. "
THEY SEE IT COMING.
The financial column of the Bos
ton lleralil seem to be edited by
some one who appreciates the signifi
cance of the labor movement. An
idea of this appreciation may be
gathered from the following which
appeared in Wednesday's issue of
that paper:
"There is an uneasy feeling observ able
in linancial circles, a sort of hesitating
mood among capitalists, induced no
doubt, in large measure, by the aggres
sive course of labor. If labor is to dic
tate the price of a day's work, the cost
of manufactured articles, and all labor is
to receive the same wages and all manu
factured goods are to cost alike, the in
centive to competitive trade will cease
and fapitol lose its motive. It mayor
may not happen in the distant future
inai ine employer will take the employed
into full partnership and conduct husi
nei for the mutual good of all con
cerned. Any attempt to reconstruct
alfairs upon that ha.sis iu the present
state o development, however, will
will create a tfineiidous social and busi
ness upheaval. Labor probably does not
aim to work so great a change at once,
but capital will look upon the present
igUation as an interference with its pre
rogatives and as a step toward the end
aiorcnamco.
Labor should and will eventually
have something to say as to the price
of a day's labor; but it is ridiculous
to suggest that all labor shall receive
the same wages and all manufactured
goods cost alike. But the "incentive
to competitive trade" must certainly
be destroyed that's one of the
things we're working for. To be
sure, it may cost the linancial editor
hks particular job, but then, there
are other channels to be opened for
him. As to the employer taking the
employe into full partnership, that
mayor may not happen, asourtinan
i'ial man says; but then, that is of little
consequence for the "distant fu
ture." Then, perhaps, it may be
that "the last shall be first." and
I the employes of to-day may consider
.the advisability of taking their
i whilom employers into partnership.
I After all, these sH'culations are
' somewhat "otT color" in the light of
: socialistic doctrines which provide
for all men with equal liberality,
giving all an opportunity to earn
their bread, and receive the full
result of their lulior.
And, though they may not under
stand precisely the meaning of the
"signs of the times," the capitalists
who take time to think feel that a
change is coining, and that the
change means an altered status of
Labor in relation to Capital. To
the student of events who is at the
same time a worker in the cause of
humanity, the coming change will be
the wedding, so to speak, of Labor
and Capital; the harmonizing of the
now opposed forces not by making
a truce between employers and em
ployes, but by embodying in each
individual the qualities of both in
the creation of the Co-operative
State. The words employer and
employe will lose their present mean
ing, ami the word citizen will con
vey much more than it does now.
It is encouraging to note that capital
ists, in some instances, at least, set
it coming.
NOTES.
The Knights of Labor did them
selves credit on the occasion of their
soiree last Monday night. It was a
grand affair.
Colonel llinton's lecture last Sun
day is still a topic for favorable com
ment among the Knights. There
are many who want to hear him
again.
Wealth does not imply virtue;
neither would the fad that the
Xetrs compositors receive union
prices make them union men. The
fact remains that they helped to at
tempt the reduction of printers'
wages.
Sumner and Apploton agreed and
disagreed at the Fqual Rights Club
last Sunday. Applclon can't con
vince the professor that, a farm is
the place for him unless the finan
cial returns of agriculture are more
voluminous than those at Yale.
At the time of going to press the
boycott is still in full force as re
gards thcV'w. But by the time
the A nvot'ATK reaches its date (Sun
day) the Xetrs composing room will
be in the hands of union men. Olli
cial notice will be given in the vari
ous organizations, and if there is no
"slip 'twixt the cup and the lip."
next week's AiiVocvtk will otlieiallv
declare the boycott oil'.
The (iertnan Typographia .sustain
ed a ridiculous notion of the compos
itors iu the Philadelphia Ttieht of
fice, namely, that they had a right
to exercise the powers of censors
over the editorial articles. They
were reasoned with in vain, and by
their action have proved themselves
unworthy of fellowship with union
men, if the reports of the (iertnan
labor papers arc correct as usual.
llow about our public library
which the city and the Yrmno-
Men's Institute promised the cit
izens? Is it not about time that the
public should have access to the
reading room and library in return
for the money voted for this pur
pose by their representatives, the
city officials? Some months have
passed since we were informed by
the daily press that this long-needed
object was to be provided.
In another col turn we print an
article from the Boston Herald en
titled "Social Inequality," in which
the writer assists the Albany ,imniti
in the study of social economy in a
manner that is at once ingenious and
deceptive. The Herald should re.
mcmlter that it is not the possession
of natural good qualities that makes
men rich; look over the roll of great
men men of "superior ablility"
and show us anio jg them accumula
tors of vast wealth. But the social
reformer does not base his opinions
upon the success of a few comjieti
tors in the scramble for wealth
they only exhibit a certain kind of
mental ability that is not. from a
moral point of view.espeeially flatter
ing. However, iw lleruhl leads the
Journal by a long stretch.
The '(dndiiim and .Imtnud and
( 'mirier are endeavoring to escape
the strong arm of retributive justice
under cover of paying a few cents
more "per 1.0(H)" to rats. While
there are sonic non-union men in
these otlices who might be accepted,
there are traitors among them who
would only be a menace to unionism
if admitted.
WHAT OTHERS SAY.
soclAI. INIIQl AI.ITIKS.
The remark made by the Albany
.hmriittl that "socialism may fit Fu
rope or Asia, but in America wealth
is a football kicked back and forth
by sturdy endeavor," shows how
completely intelligent and well
meaning men mistake the character
of the social agitation of the present
day. At the time of the French
revolution, the aim of the sans etm
latle was to pull down the aristocra
cy, and to him the aristocracy were
those who carried hereditary titles,
or who, by their position in society,
possessed privileges that were denied
to the less influential members of
the community. But the Furopcan
socialism of the present day does not.
vent its dislike against the aristo
crats so much as against the hmir
ijeaisie. It is the class of nionev-get-ters,
the employers of labor, the
shrewd, hard-headed business men.
who are bound to make their way in
the world, even if they start with
but a sixpence, who excite the dis
like of the social reformer, lie be
lieves that by their energy and supe
rior mental ability, they get too large
a share of the wealth of the world,
and that, if they received less, their
less endowed fellow countrymen
would receive more. He base's his
belief on what it must he admitted
is an, unanswerable' fact, that the
genius and energy of the most suc
cessful business man would go but a
small way toward securing him a
fortune if it were not for the assist
ance he receives from his less en
dowed brethren. This being the
case, co-operative work being abso
lutely essential to the production of
wealth, the dissatisfied workinginan
who has not been blessed by nature
with the ability to turn ten talents
into twenty talents, holds that the
division in production should be in
some way equalized, and that a mere
happy chance of birth, which gives
cither brains or money, ought not to
be the reason why one man may lead
a life of ease and contentment, and
another a life of continuous drudg
ery. It is this aspect of lliequestion
that the All any .imrna! and a good
many other newspapers which have
treated the social question, do not
seem to comprehend. ----Wih Her
ald. EXPROPRIATION AND COM
PENSATION. lieleavt feom (ienuhimVs ''('it-iqwralin
'omniDiiweaHli."
We suggested that, if the linal change
were accomplished by force, the State
would possibly expropriate our men of
wealth without any compensation what
ever. 'Iheir e.vMimj riglila are xneh
which the laic yires, and ichut the lair
mrcxjair can take mean. That would be
done without any compunction of con
science, seeing that much of that wealth
is obtained by questionable methods, and
very much of it by (he trickery of Inly
ing and selling, which never can create
value, and, indeed, ought not to furnish
the manipulator mere subsistence.
as a matter of policy the State may see
lit to give the proprietors a fair eom(M'ii
sation for that property w hich Society
took under its control. Hut there are
two important "huts" to note.
They will not receive any interest on
the sums allowed them. When all inter
est lias ceased to I legitimate through
out Society, Society itself will hardly
charge itself with that burden.
They will not lie paid iu money, but in
goods, in articles of enjoyment, furnished
in annuities to thoe whose claim is suf
ficiently large.
SupHse we owe Vanderbilt a sum
equal to one hundred million of dollars.
We pay hint a million a year for a hun
dred years, and cancel the debt. Van-
1....1.0. 11 .1 . ., ,
i i""i Oram men i.the ins one million m
lalior-checks, or whatever products he
chose, and ninety-nine millions in non
interest tearing V. S. certificates of in
debtedness ami use tliein in Europe or
elsewhere just as lie pleased. We should
say that this would U acting very gener
ously with him, when we renietnlier
what it will not do any harm once more .
to call attention to-that Society uei'er
ijet has acted in a like spirit of social jus-
tice towards the icoekimj eusscs, when
ever they suite red injury, anil grievous
injury, by new machinery and new in
ventions. Socialists of old useil to insist upon the
abolition of the Kight of Inheritance and
Bequest. Now we can see, that there
absolutely will be no need for that. And
it is well. For if that which 1 gain hy
my own labor is rightfully my property
ami the Co-operative Commonwealth
will, as we have seen, exactly sanction
that claim it will he decidedly inexpe
dient in that Commonwealth to destroy
any of the essential qualities of property
ship; and I can hardly call that my prop
erty, which I may not give to whom 1
please after my death. Further, to deny
me that right is undeniably to lessen, by
so much, my incentives to etl'ort.
There will be no need to do away with
that right, for when property can no
longer increase from interest, and fleec
ing; when it no more confers pviecr on
its possessor, then Private wealth wilt lie
come harmless.
Take even a Kothschild. Suppose him
compensated in full for all he is "worth."
I low abominable this phrase is ! so reri
signilicant of our age, to call a man whose
body and soul may not lx worth a
farthing to Society "worth" millions of
dollars well, he will be paid in bread
and meat anil luxuries and wine and
theatre-tickets. Let him enjoy these
things. Let him lill himself to repletion I
Let him give away and squander the
rest! 1 o not be afraid that the State
will be burdened for many generations
with these charges; his very next heirs
will see to it that it will not. These im
mense accumulations will not last so very
long, when they cease to lx prolilic.
But our present laws of inheritance
may very likely experience great modifi
cations. It certainly is absurd, that a
second cousin of mine who does not know
himself related to me, until there is some
thing tii be gained hy it, should have
anv claim to my property after my
death.
AMERICAN LANDLORDISM.
A System Vro Hi nil Hip one (reat
Itritain is about to KeiMidiate.
The Chicago Herald is not an or
gan ol the working people by any
means, but it recognizes the fact
that landlordism in America is a far
worse institution than the niuch
deeried British system. It says:
Landlordism in the old world is ac
countable for many wrongs, but one
such outrage as that recently perpetrated
in New Mexico, is not charged to it, while
in our western States and Territories
similar proceedings are becoming com
mon enough. Though the Knglish,
Scotch and Irish landlord is apt to be a
tvr.int he does not place himself above
the law. He does not shoot and kill, nor
does he intimidate courts and ollieers.
The laws are all in his favor. iu this
i ountry the great landowners of the west
make their own laws and override oppo
sition with force.
One of the great cattle corporations
that have seized millions of acres of land
in the Territories, is the Kansas and New
Mexico company, owned hy alien Eng
lishmen, and controlling enormous
tracts in both of the districts named, in
New Mexico the company has encroached
upon public lands that have lieen occu
pied for years by sheepherders, and quar
rels have be n frequent. A little while
ago the armed employes of the English
lac llords served notice on the sheepgfow
evs that they must go, ami, as this com
mand was unheeded, an attack was made,
in which two of the sheepherders were
killed. When (iovernor Ross heard of
the tragedy he ottered rewards for the
capture of the murderers, but the Eng
lishmen forestalled the action by cans
inv the arrest of tbp men Mild then com-
M'lling a frontier court at the muzzles of
titles to acquit them of the crime. Other
violence of the same description is
charged against this as well as other alien
companies, which by such acts stand in
the attitude of hostile invaders of the re
public. In some cases individual set
tlers suffer, but in most instances the
victims are small herders whom the big
companies wish to drive out of the busi
ness. If such things can go on now in a
sparsely settled country what may be
looked for when the lands stolen by these
corporat ions come to he encroached upon
by the ever-advancing t ide of settlement ?
The great Maxwell grant in New Mexico
and Colorado h;us Ix-en the scene of
dozens of such conflicts, and all through
western Kansas and Nebraska a terror
ism has lieen exert ed which has lieen fatal
to the aspirations of men of moderate
meaii-who were in search of home any
where in the vicinity of these l.rineely
estates. A territory in the west larger
than the whole of the New England
States ih now held by less than thirty
rorjHirat ions and individuals. The mere
ownership of this land is an evil, but the
use that is made of it and the itolicy that
its holders pursue are t rim,-, which the
American ,-eople must deal with at no
distant day if they would escape a mean
er landlordism i .n ... ' . . "
i of in Euro,. ' ,ri
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