'"WORKMBH'S ADYOCATB,
JTOKMtNS ADVOCATfc
orncuL joi KNii, or
THE SOCIALISTIC LABOR PARTY
OK NOHT1I AMERICA.
FUBUHHRU BY Till
cuiiAMVIlIf AAillllTTrr
ITEHT WKKK.
Publication Office, 781 Chapel Street.
IutereHtltifc correspondence solicited from pro
letarian! In all parts of the world. let ters re
qulrlnK answers sliould oontalu return pontage
Address all communication to
Workmen' Advocate,
1". O. Drawer 103. Hew Ilavon, Conn.
Sond subscription money to I'. o. Drawer KK),
New Haven, Conn, or call at the ofllce, No. T81
Chapel street.
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50
IMTIRBD AT Till FOOT OWCI AT N EW HAVEN, CON
KKTriCTTT. AS BE(XNIM'LAHH MATTEH
Nbw Havkn, Maim h P. 1887.
REVENGE.
The Inter-State Commerce bill has
become a law, and the prediction of
its friends seem less and less likely
to be fulfilled. The opposition of
the railroad magnates to its enact-
mcnt lias turned into a suspicious
zeal since congress was so stupid as
to make such a law.
Its proposition in the first place
looked like a "strike" a legislative
strike. But the railroad men, it
seems, did not properly respond to
the gentle mandate, being deter
mined upon different tactics. An
editorial in the Hartford Times
A
clearly sets forth the scheme of the
railroad kings-they propose to make
the Inter-State Commerce law un-
popular by enforcing it in a vigorous
manner. Ibis is what the tines
(capitalist) says about it:
. .. . . .
The large railroad companies are
serving notice that all their Njieeial rate
contractu will lie ended m a lew days,
under the provisions of the Inter-State
Commerce bill. No more excursion rates
will be offered, and all special contracts
are to lie abandoned. There will lie great
complaints over this. The shippers of
train and provisions, who send their pro
ducts over the rails ten or fifteen hun
dred miles, have had special lung haul
rates, and the consumers of Hour and
beef have received the benefit of cheap
rate. Hut under this inter .Stale Com
uierce bill only regular rutes will lie ac
cepted by the railroad companies, We
doubt whether this new law will liecome
popular."
Thus is exhibited the transcendent
beauty of patchwork legislation. The
small shippers who objected to the
discrimination in favor of their large
competitors expected to derive the
benefit of a lower rate of freightage,
or at least compel their competitors
to pay proportionately as high a
tariff upon their large shipments,
They have succeeded admirably; but
as the small concerns, though more
numerous than the large ones,
reckoned without their host, for, as
the Times says, "the consumers have
received the benefit of cheap rates.
This may be corrected, however,
and modified to this extent, that the
consumers have received the benefit
of but a small part of the difference
between long and short haul ami largt
and small shipment tariffs.
The railroad companies, strong in
the jKissexsitiit of the means of trans
portation, protected by law in the
exercise of supreme authority, and
fearing naught from weak and venal
legislatures, can well defy the pub-
lie opinion of a people who, for the
Bake of what they consider hid i vid ual
freedom, hesitate to establish a So
cialistic precedeut which would Ik'
of immense advantage to the nation.
namely, the ownership and control
of the railroads by the whole iieople.
There certainly will Ik? complaints
over the workings of this law; patch
work legislation, of which the Inter
State law is a fair sample, never can
eradicate a fundamental evil. Put,
instead of applying a correct rem
edy the only real remedy it is
more than likely that further legal
patchwork will bo unacted, or, what
is equally ossible, ilio law will be
repealed and the railroad corpora-
tions will triumph. Meanwhile they
will take profitable revenge by kjo1-
ing their issues and fleecing the na
tion under the protection of a law
that was intended (?) to benelit the
people.
We, Socialists, cannot resist the
inclination to smile at the puerile dispel the doubts of the weak,
attempts of a great nation to escape lint there in a still better guaran
the penalty of a bad system without tee of the incorruptibility of the La-
abolishing that system. All the
learned political economists who are
hired to teach the sons of corpora
tion barons and mercantile princes
how to acquire wealth by h'Lral
thievery cannot show the hopeful
young scholars how to escape the in
evitable results of the capitalistic
competitive system. They shut their
eyes to the future, and all their sci
ence ends in a sea of fnisser 'aire.
They and their employers say upon
their coin, ''In Cod we trust," while
as a matter of fact they only trust in
the ignorance of the masses to per
petuate a system that gives them the
privilege of eating the bread of idle
ness. Fortunately for the people;
fortunately, also, for the exploiters,
tj,L.ro j8 a growing sentiment that it
j8 Wrontr to steal even under cover of
purchased legislation. It is also true
that mere sentiment will not cure
the evil. Action is necessary, but
not such action as will merely tear
down. The propositions of Social
ism as enunciated bv the Socialistic
Labor I'arty, though revolutionary,
are constructive and based upon
scientific principles, the recognition
and adoption of which are merely a
(juestion of time.
Meanwhile it is interesting, and,
if jt were not for tho Buffering to hu
nianity entailed, it would be amus
i,1Lr to unto the sham ami nhmhl f-
" " I "
forts put forth by insincere reform-
era and intellectual pigmies respect
ively, to mollify the impatient tco-
pie who
wrong."
feel that "something is
CAREFUL SLANDERERS.
The manner in which the Labor
I'arty is attacked by the capitalistic
press ought to bo a good sign to in
tclli'ent men. The reptile news-
papers can find nothing against the
character of the individuals who
were active in the formation of the
new party, and so they make vile
insinuations, taking care not to
make statements that are actionabh
The latest mere insinuation that our
respected fellow citizen, Herbert C.
Baker, of Hartford, was the recipi-
ent of money from "republican"
politicians is on a par with the care-
f n 1 ly wonted, njtjxirent assertion
that the late chairman of our Town
Committee, and the editor of the
Wokkmkn's Advocaik were pre
sented with thousands of dollars by
"republicans" for their zeal in the
political labor movement. The Hey-
infer, which printed these ridiculous
stories, was very careful not to make
too positive assertions. Among
other things it was intimated that
"republican" politicians had ordered
fifteen thousand copies of the Wouk
mkn s Apviw'atk, at three cents a
copv, lor distribution. iow, the
Hetinfer is printed in the same
building with the Woukmkn's Al-
vot'A 1 1:, and one of the proprietors
of the letinfer is also president of
the printing concern which has
printed the Apvotk ever since it
became a regular weekly publication.
Yet, our highest circulation never
reached more than ;,."ttH) in any one
week, and that is the highest amount
that was ever printed.
For those who have worked in the
labor movement for years side by
side with the citizens who have been
intentionally slandered, no answer
to such vile insinuations is required
Nor would anv be needed for those
who carefully read and consider the
pretended accusations. But it is
possible that our growing party has
in its ranks honest and well-mean-
ing men who are not yet thoroughly
acquainted with the unscrupulous
tactics, born of the fear of the labor
movement, used by our enemies.
The simple yet unfortunate fact that
there are cheajier means of political
chicanery than those alleged, should
bor Party, and that is that it has no
individual leaders with any great
amount of individual influence.
And if any of its members were se
riously bus pec ted of improper acts,
they would be as mercilessly kicked
out as if they were '"democratic" or
"republican" corruptionists. on a
spying expedition.
After all, our besmirched enemtt's
are cowards at heart, and their insin
uations do not really deserve notice
at our hands.
CAUGHT A TARTAR.
The worthy mutton-heads of Con
necticut who voted for the New
York importation, Lounsbury, for
(iovernor last Fall have indeed
caught a Tartar which it will re
quire something: more powerful than
naKing sou a 10 remove, jur. Liouns-
1 1 i "ft t T
bury is a monocrat of the genus
Hewitt New York.
Scarcely had he taken his seat be
fore he publicly expressed a convic
tion that all criminals, no matter
what their crime, murder excepted,
should be sentenced to state s prison
for life. Now he wants the con-
victed boycotters of the New Haven
rypographical Union to receive the
full penalty of the law thirty years.
lh.it this is not all.
At a recent reception his Koyal
Highness happened to catch an of
licer of his Btaff by tho name of
Horn in the act of taking a horn of
champagne punch, and ordered him
to put it down (on the table), adding
that he did not allow his staff officers
to drink anything stronger than
lemonade. The serf meekly com
plied
It is rumored that His Majesty is
about to issue an order prohibiting
the agriculturists of tho Connecti-
cni legislature from picking their
t't-tli with jack-knives in tho lobby
of tllt! fiipitol
FEARED AND FORBIDDEN.
The London lkinumtt says that
the word "shame" is no longer to be
allowed in the House of Commons,
and remarks that the English Parlia
mcnt has fallen so low that "shame"
is the one l'lngUsh word that ex
presses the general stata. If the
rrnvni'n moiit irr nmid nf nil liu Imn.
orable men, members might cry
"shame" till they tired.
What is true of the English Par
liament is true of our ruling classes
in relation to boycotting. If bov
cotted employers were not conscious
of deserving to be boycotted, and i
the obedient servants (paid by the
people) of the employing class were
not satisfied of the guilt of their
masters, they would not fear the
boycott. But the exploiters know
that the boycott is dangerous to
those who trample on the rights o
the people, and therefore it is feared
and forbidden.
NOTES.
The Chicago .a?r Enquirer is
an excellent paper, and do. nu
chanan is an .ble editor, but some
how or other he don't seem so anx
ions to "di" in the barricade as
when he lived in Penver.
J he lienrcr lAtwr hnuitirer is
authority for the information that
the report of "Mr. Powderly's Win
summoned to liome for negleetin
to submit his last secret circular to
the proper authority," is premature.
Mr. Powderly still acts advisedly.
Immediately after the late election
in Germany largo purchases of gov
ernment securities were made by the
ools of Hismarck at the Paris
Bourse. This trick worked to a
charm, and the credit of and confi
dence in the imperial government
was firmly established in the estima
tion of the money lenders. But the
act that such a trick was resorted
to by Bismarck is of infinite com-
brt to his enemies.
From the description given in
their official journal of the palatial
new headquarters of the National
Executive Hoard of tho Noble and
loly Order of Knights of Labor, we
should judge that the kickers and
disturbers of the peace and quiet of
he inner circle had no reason for
urther complaint. 'Tis true, they
cannot all enjoy the double-distilled
uxury of the palatial mansion, but
hey can read about it, and by proxy
jartake of its richness; so, we trust
there will be no more silly protests
against assessments.
Once more the capitalist class has
occasion to mourn the loss of one of
its high priests. The man who so
ably advocated the cause of the
.battel slave a quarter of a century
ago, but who proved an enemy to the
wage slaves of the present genera-
ion, has passed away. We cannot
even express that regret which might
be accorded the memory of a high
minded and honest enemy. He had
no personal interest in. the perpetra-
ion of negro slavery, while his for
tunes were cast with the perpetua
tors of wage slavery and exploiters
of the wage-working people. Beecher
is dead.
An off-color constellation com
posed of the Hartford Telegram (E.
M. (J raves, formerly of New Haven);
Albert W. Walker, to the best of
our knowledge a legally adjudicated
crank," whose effusions were re
fused publication in the Workmen's
Advocate this manner of men ap
parently charge citizens with accept
ing bribe money. They are careful
not to lay themselves liable to a suit
at law, but they will experience some'
thing which is more appropriate to
such creatures the utter contempt
of honest men, and, if legal occasion
should arise, the propulsive power of
some workingman's boot.
Professor Edward Atkinson, soup-
maker extraordinary, who has spent
the greater part of his life in endeav
oring to scientifically demonstrate
that a workingman with a large
family can live in luxury on a dollar
a day by means of soup made from
butcher's scraps, is reforming. At
a recent meeting of the Nineteenth
Century Club, composed of New
York millionaires, he spoke as fol
lows: "If the workmen and work
women are half as dangerous as
some people would have you believe,
your city would have been sacked
twenty years ago. The only an
archists to be dreaded to-day in this
country are those who make use of
the law for carrying on fraud."
Come again, Edward.
WHAT OTHERS SAY.
The comments of the press upon
the platform adopted in Cincinnati
have been in the main commenda
tory. It is comparatively short and
very concise. The demands upon
the main issues are positive and plain
though moderate. The opinions of
the masses of the American jieople
are rapidly crystalizing in favor of
the majority of those demands and
no party need hope to live much
longer without adopting them. It
Whooves the politicians who wish to
keep in public favor to study these
questions. J he world is moving.
Education is advancing with rapid
strides. Superstition is fading.
dying. Party names can no longer
operate as potent spells to lure Amer
can citizens into suicidal folly.
Principle will be tho pathway to
progress in the future. South West.
CAl'ITAMSTS A It MI NO.
The voting of ','1,000,000 dollars
by the United States Senate towards
the erection of a great military es
tablishment has caused considerable
ezcitement, especially among the
working population. The pretext
for this enormous expenditure is the
fear of foreign invasion. Consider
ing how the American press and
politicians have boasted of the
strength of their citizen force and of
the greater confidence that could be
placed in men who tought freely for
their country than in those who
were compelled to sacrifice them
selves for the glory of "continental
despotisms," this pretext is just a
trifle too "thin." The true reason
for this sudden fear of "foreign in
vasion" on the part of the pluto
cratic Senate is, of course, the in
creasing strength of organized labor
and the rapid growth of the Social
ist movement. Events move quickly
in the States, and it may not be
long before we shall see "the land of
of the free" dominated by a military
police and placed under a minor
state of siege. The capitalist cor
porations of America are brutal
enough for infamy when once their
dominition is threatened. London
J nst ire.
IN HIS OWN BEHALF.
Mr. l'owderly Says His Actions Are
Endorsed Itrillidiit Chances
Scorned.
The Chief of the K. of L., in a
letter to a friend, which has been
permitted to be printed, thus de
fends himself against the accusations
of those whom he calls enemies of
"right and justice:"
"I am literally besieged with cor
resjiondence indorsing my action in
matters pertaining to the order, but
find very few who attach any impor
tance to tho attacks made by indi
viduals or newspapers. The unfair
reference in the press of the r,000
salary hurts my feelings most. I
do not merit that kind of treatment,
as you know. I always opposed a
high salary for myself, and for sev
eral years peremptorily refused the
offer from the General Assembly,
but at the last session I found myself
confronted by and open to two
charges, either of which was sure to
prevail against me through the ef
forts of designing enemies, inside
and outside the order.
"1. If an advance of salary fa
vored by the representatives at Rich
mond and the order at large was re
fused, then I would be dishonest, and
certainly under compensation from
the enemies of the order or the great
labor to be performed would not be
undertaken. ,
n an advance oi salary was
accepted, then it could be said it
came from the hard-working people
of the country, and the services ren
dered were not adequate for the sal
ary hxed.
"This was the unpleasant position
of affairs, but no word of favor of
the proposed action of the Assembly
came from me. Had my individual
interests been consulted, the offer of
100 per week, made previous to the
session at Hamilton, would have
been accepted, as the proposed labor
would have called for but eight
hours in the twenty-four. Since
then offers have come to me unso
licited, ranging from .",000 to $G,
000 a year for my services in busi
ness pursuits, four of which now
stand open for my acceptance.
"The duties of the position held
in the order require close and ex
haustive mental labor, anywhere
from twelve to eighteen hours a day,
and therefore cannot be considered
a sinecure. My purpose to stand by
the order, regardless of the action of
enemies within or without, can not
be shaken. I worked for the organ
ization when the privilege of doing
so was paid for and when the few
individuals now in the order who
are assailing me through sinister mo
tives, were doing their utmost to
prevent the success of its principles
when they were on the outside. I
shall continue to work for the pur
pose and teachings of the Knights of
l-Abor, pay or no pay, until my life's
labor ends. The work of years must
not, shall not, W thrown away to
gratify enemies of rtght and justice."
THE TRUE PLAN OF SOCIAL
REFORM.
BY PK. A DOCAI.
The present capitalistic manner of
production differs essentially from ull
earlier methods. It cannot be illustrated
by examples taken from the latter such
as we lind in the economical writings of
renowned writers like Adam Smith,
Hicardo, Carey and others. It must be
analyzed from its own facts, studied in
all its hearings and understood in all its
consequences. The earlier modes of
production worked with slaves
chattels, not persons or with feudal
servants whose means of life were guar
anteed by their lords or masters. They
produced for the market some few su
perfluous wares, worked chiefly for the
immediate wants of a limited society
and had little expansive force. They
employed few tools and fewer machines,
required thoroughness and individual
skill in every worker who had to be an
artisan, and little division of labor. The
soil and all other means of production
were not for sale, but the workers were'
for sale, or else fettered to a home mar
ket, residence and severely regulated,
guild. The capital employed was insig-i
niticant, ami new inventions were'
frowned down, or remained individual
secrets. Science itself was the secret of'
a class.
When the new capitalistic production
originated (at the end of the Middle
Ages, or later) the workman was mad.
a freeman, free in the double sense o'
the word, in that he was not bound t
any particular master, but free to see.
his master or employer, and that he wt
free from his means of labor and to woi)
for some employer for ready cash. 1
had no share in the soil and in the a
cumulated capital of all kinds, but h
to find a livelihood for himself by 1
own care. His employer was a capit
istic owner of machines, tools, mated--
for work, etc., who directed the deti
of the entire process of production. 'J
merchandise produced sought mark
everywhere and wax made on a la',
scale with more improved machin,;
and subdivision of labor; former l',-'
itatious of markets and trades wereAl
moved; an enormous number of inj
tions and discoveries revolution -every
detail of production and yiei '
greater profits to the employer V "
greater accumulation of capital L?
!
hands, and allowed an ever-incre;
...... i.. i. ...:.. 1
,J1 MIUIIIM UUM mm lllHI ul t
They call that "free trade;" but it must
not be forgotten that it is free trade as
well in human labor. The workman
having no more merchandise to sell, had
to sell his own working force for what it
would bring in the market which under
no circumstances could, on an average,
he more than what would buy his own
and a family's accustomed necessities of
life. That might in the beginning of
this era be enough for him and for some
savings besides; but this mode of pro
duction being planless, every producing
capitalist trying to undersell his compet
itors for the market by cheapness of
wares, it led to commercial and financial
crises which returned in every decade.
In each of these crises, employment was
scanty or lacking, and an abundance of
wage-workers ottering themselves for
employment, wages tended more and
more downwards a tendency limited
only to some extent by the organizations
of workers for mutual protection and
support. We are, however, now in a
world's commercial crisis which will
hardly ever be followed by better times,
because a dozen nations which have
adopted the capitalistic mode of produc
tion, rival each other in underselling,
and the working people are impoverished
everywhere so as to be unable to pur
chase freely the wares made by them
selves. The sales of wares shrink in
almost every market, or else the profits
do.
It would be ridiculous to compare our
manner of production and its effects to
any earlier one, all the features of the
same being altered. But the trrear ma
jority of people close their eyes to these
vast differences, some from lack of
knowledge of the facts; some from ego
istic motives, because they are vastly
benefitted by denying the truth. It L
this blindness to scientific and evident
facts which characterizes all Utopists
who believe or would make us believe
that the world does not move, that
things are as they were and must remain
so. and that the great mass of human
misery may lie cured by a little tinker
ing of effects without removing the
nindamental causes, by nostrums of
their own invention, even by swimming
against the torrent of development and
natural laws. This present mode of
capitalistic production is at work under
mining and ruining itself by tightinir
1 ill 1 iiMTl :iiiir-it;..n o...l . -.0 "
help in accelerating this course of nature
but we cannot stem it. We mav
bring about more speedily the new and
rational kind of production by common
capital but we cannot prevent its birth
without bringing about our own ruin