The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1866-04-28
OUR STATE CONVENTION.

As has been known to our re aders for
some time, the regular session of t. Grand
Eight Hour League Of this State, win be
convened in this city on Wednesday next,
the I'd of May. As it is the first convention
Of the kind ever held in the Western States,
ard as the matters 70 he discussed and acted
on are Of vital importance to tie working
classes, inaugurating as they viii new era in
the history of political parties, we think il
would not be out Of place to refer st length
to some Of the more prominent subjects
which present themselves for its deiibera-
tons.
The defeat Of the eight hour bills in the
Massachusetts,, New York, PennsylvapIa,
Ohio and Wisconsin legislatures, from which
SO much had been been anticipated, has con-
WINGED the mechanics Of Illinois that If the
aid Of legislation must be invoked to obtain
this much needed reform, It can only be OBJ
taired by the election o! honest men, pledged
TO represent and defend the interests of labor
IN ali occasions, independent Of their notiti-
cal anteeedents; ana in no way can this be
so effectualiy accomplished as by selecting
men Of common sense, from the humber
walks of life, even though the lot should fall
upon xuDsILL. Instead, therefore, OF con.
demning the action Of partisans in shelving
these several resolutions, the workingmen
owe them debt Of gratitude for these bless.
ings in disguise, which they can never re
pay. Blessings they were, for the same rea'
son that the defeat of Bull Run was the
grandesI victory Of the war, awakening as il
did the people Of the North q sense of the
magnitude and importance Of the crisis. So
in like manner has the action of these legis-
latures aroused the laboring classes to . real
ization of the fact that they have been trust
ing, in the past, to broken reed, aud that
all successful efforts to elevate them in the
social or Intellectual scale, must be the fruits
Of tker own exertions and accomplished
through the strength of their own right
arms.
1t cannot be doubted by any sensible man
that if these bills had passed, they would
have been clothed in such verbiage, and
trammeled by such provisions as to have
rendered them virtually useless and we are
afraid the great mass Of our population
would have beer content with the shadow,
rather than the substance. Now, however,
that this danger has been avoided, another
equally formidable presents itself. From
SylIa TO Charybdis is but step. AS the
movement gains strength and popularity,
political concerts will throng around it,
prompted by selfinterest or lust Of Office.
Under these circumstances it behoves every
eight hour organization to act with prudence
and discretion, and avoid all entang'ing
alliances. A this subject, however, will be
thoroughly ventilated, and plan Of future
action adopted by the convention, we refrain
from further comment
The Ubiquitous system Of allowing one or
two men TO amass fortunes ont of the pro-
ductions Of convict labor, to the injury of
every honest mechanic in the state, is an
outrage which demands immediate attention,
and We trust no man will receive the sup
poit Of any league, under any circumstances,
who is not unequvocally pledged to urge by
voice and vote its immediate repeal.
The appointment Of delegates to the Ma
tiond1 Convention at Baltimore, an appeal to
our fellow orkmen throughout the country,
and the selection Of State Executive Com
mittee are among the questions which will
furnish ample employment for our first Eight
Hour Convention. We trust that harmony
of action and fraternal feeling will prevail! in
its deliberations, aud thai it may prove an
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