Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 June 1884 — THE WORKINGMAN. [ARTICLE]

THE WORKINGMAN.

[From the Indi&nApoUs Sentinel.]

WHAT HE WANTS —NO MORE. NO LESS—HOW HE IS AFFECTED BY TH2 TARIFF. To the Editor of the Sentinel: Sir—During the assemblage of the Republicans in State council last week, active effort was made to obtain for labor some recognition in the platform of that party, and I am happy to say that the appeal was most entirely unheeded—that some recognition was really accorded the workingman. That he was not given more extended consideration is probably due, not to a lack of disposition on the part Of the delegates. but to the organic qualities oi the Committee on Resolutions. That committee either did not comprehend the gravity of the situation or else it was averse to granting any concessions to the needs and wants of the industrial classes. In the hubbub of excitement upon the adoption of the platform some one remarked that labor had a tangible recognition therein. “Mighty weak bait,ain’t it?” said a bystander. To which the first gentleman replied: “Strong enough, I think; why, what do the d —d fool workingmen want?” If you will give me a little sdace I will tell you just what the d—d fool workingmen want.

That the workingman has been a fool in years past is demonstrated most forcibly by his present condition. That he has been a fool is demonstrated by the fact that he has through many long long years iepended upon others for the safety of his welfare and the shaping of his destiny. He has awakened from that deludon, however; and, through die asylum of organization md the enlightenment of education, has determined to look out for himself, and to demand, by the force of the ballot, rights of equality be fore the law

He witnesses with alarm the ievelopment and aggression of capital, and that it is leadng certainly to the pauperism ind degradation of the toiling masses. He knows that unless a check is placed upon the power of unjust accumulation, and a system adopted .which will secure to the laborer the fruits of his toil, he will foe robbed of the common bless- , ngs of life. Among his first efforts is to bring within the folds of organization every department of productive industry, making snowledge a standpoint of acionand industrial moral worth, not wealth, the true ••tandard of individual and National greatness. He would secure to the toil- • *rs a proper share of the wealth hey create; more of the leisure that properly belongs to "hem; more society advantaes; more of the benefits, privleges and emoluments of the world, mil those rights anc ; rivileges necessary to make • hem capable of enjoying, appreciating, defending and perpetuating the blessings of Rood government. He is for the reserving of the, publiclands for .the actual <ettler. Being the comm in heritage of the people, he is 'pposed to squandering the üblic domain upon wailroads ;nd corporations, and of its absorption by alien capitalistc land owners. He wants a law for the allegation of all laws that do iot bear equally upon capital nd labor; the removal of untist technicalities,.delays,and udiscriminations in the addnistration of jjjfttice, ;and or the adoption of such measres as will provide for the ealth and safety of those e»aged in mining, mauufacturig or building pursuits. He wants the establishment f laws to compel chartered orporations to pay their emloyes weekly in full—m cash r currency—-fie r labor per)rmed during the preceding eek, and of giving to mechnics and laborers a first lien u their work for wages. He wants a law for the proibition of the employment of lildren in workshops, mines id factories, before attaining io age of fourteen years, and >r laws making the education f children compulsory,

He wants a law for the abolishment of the system ot letting out by contract the labor of convicts in our prisons and reformatory institutions,when such labor is in competition with the honest mechanic on the outside. He wants the enactment of laws for the reduction of the hours of labor performed by mechanics and laboring men, that they may have more time for social enjoyment and intellectual improvement, and be enabled to reap at least a proportion of the advantages confened by labor-saving machinery which their brains have created. He wants a National law to prevent the importation of foreign labor under contract.

He wants labor representation in all law-making bodies, through the bailot,and if that can not be obtained through either of the dominant parties, to centralize his forces upon those of his own class and obtain a representation direct. He is at all times in favor of protection to American industries. But it is not of that kind of protection which goes to enrich the wealthy of the country and rob the poor. — There is no partisan politics in a question of taxes, and the workingman has come to view a tariff—either of high duties or for revenue only—as it as sects him. He finds, upon investigation, that less than onetenth of the labor engaged in the industries of this country are protected by high tariff dutie.-, and it is becoming a question of vital personal interest to him to inquire why the other more than nine-tenths should be so heavily taxed that the less than one-tenth should live at starving wages. He finds, by statistics, that not a single person engaged in any business protected by high tariff duties receives any better pay for his labor than he would if the protection was withdrawn from the business in which he was eng aged.

Take the four gre.* protected industries of i >n, wool, cotton and silk. > icording to the census of 18b hey employ, all told, 464,468 <. eratives These operatives ge. the extremely gratifying sum of $276,17 for a year’s woik, in the average, or £5,31 yer week. The average wages of those employed in mining and blasting iron is $307 per year: the average in wool industry is §293,06; in the silk industry, $264,45; in the cotton industry, $240,17. Yet iron is protected by a 45 per cent, duty; wool by a duty ranging from 48 to 70 per cent.; cotton by a duty of 45 per cent.; silk by a duty of 50 per. cent. If high protection makes high wages, how is it that the in these representative protected industries get ah average of weekly wages lower than the average in an ordinary brickyard?

To the woikingmen it appears that protective duties are only enforced so that certain industries shall be controlled by a few privileged persons, and these same persons are permitted to levy a tax or bounty upon consumers for their own private use. Protective duties ar«, therefore, a tax upon the many to benefit the few, and theimany are the working masses of the le-ople who are persuaded, ialsely, that.the,protective system is designated for their benefit. Workingmen are not only, forced to compete with the importation of foreign labor, but in nearly every purchase they make-they must contribute to the profit of the privileged few. The workingman is learning all these things and what he wants is reform- He wants nothing more than <equal and exact justice, and he will, in time, see to it that fie accepts nothing less. Samuel L. Leffews well. Indianapolis. June .2<L 1884.

New York Times (Rep.); The Blaine episode in the wtory of the Republican party will last for a summer at least. The supporters of Mr. Blaine are now stirred to their heart’s depths with fervent enthusiasm for the man they blindly worship. They have been taken quite off their feet by the first wave of a success they scarcely dared to hope for, but a little time, some thought, and

careful observation of what is going on around them, will ring them back to solid ground. They will see that they have cut loose from much that is best and worthiest in the Republican party;they will see that they have embarked in an enterprise beset with dangers, and as the canvass goes on they will surely find that one corner of their house is gone. vVill Steve Elkins replace Massachusetts? Is Powell Clayton an equivalent for New York?