Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 June 1901 — “ A JOB ON DE WORKS.” [ARTICLE]

“ A JOB ON DE WORKS.”

Every political ward heeler will welcome such laws as that passed by the late legislature fixing a minimum wage rate of 20 cents per hour on “public work.” Such laws enable the heeler to get in his oar. Promises of jobs “on de works” are used by him in securing votes for his boss. It creates and fosters an army of hangers-on and would be pap-suckers, who, as a general thing, are no earthly account to any community nor any one except the politician who has patronage to bestow. Such laws are not a benefit to the honest working man, as every intelligent reader knows and the placing of these measures upon our statute books only creates more ringsters and gives political favorites jobs at the expense of the true laborer, who must work the harder to bear the added burden of expense created by the increased pay to the fellow who has the “pull.” It creates undesirable rivalry among men for the soft jobs, and a consequent dissatisfaction and discontent among the less favored one who must sell his labor in the open market at onefourth or one-fifth less than he receives who has the pull. A whole sermon might with impunity be preached on the visciousness of such measures; to the intelligent. far-seeing man this is unnecessary. He can readily see what such law’s lead to and knows that nothing good can come from them. It was to be expected however, that the Apologist would give quasi endorsment of this measure by publishing a “testimonial” from “F. of L. M.,” who is such a friend of the laboring man that he was ashamed to sign his name to the article. The Apologist has ever endorsed every scheme or measure that drew money from the public treasury without rendering any equivalent and we expect it to blubber over with effusions of congratulation to the legislature that that enacted “so beneficient a measure.” We do not know who wrote the effusion in the Apologist, eulogizing this law but we will venture the assertion that it was written by some person who has not done a stroke of labor in twenty years except to hang about the court house and, when not holding office, watch for crumbs from the politicians’ table; that the only fat upon his ribs to-day has been put there by the sweat and toil of taxpayers; that if he ever earned a dollar that didn’t come from the city or county treasury it was so long ago that he has forgotten about it.