The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1866-05-19

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ell their degrees 4 hch0r, and All beside Is
And 20 says every honest man in this vide
ttoed; 10 be somefhing you mus do some
thing, Is the first great square foundation
principle Of life. TO Be something ycu
must DO something, and not 70 be somebody
you must do somebody, as one might I'm
Iagine FROM the way IN which grea many.
men make their money and thsn set up their
claim to belong to the upper ten. ! had a
grand lesson on this last summer in London.
There Is certain period 10 English history
that il always reckoned one Of the most
brilliant and sparkling in all her annals /
was walking through the South Remington
museum, and the department devoted to
the relies Of that period. There were 10 it
Wonderful gew CAV watches TINT wo uld
never keep tims. and dancipg shoes that
would, and picsures Of courtly danes, whose
4 dfesses began too late and ended toe soon,
and ali the ruck and truck OF o brilliant,
wicked, worthless era I; and there, right in
the midst OF it, number Of iron gates,
made in the same era by blacksmith in
Nottingham. l believe that l know good
iron when see it, and have seen great
deal Of Il but in all my life never saw
any that thought 80 beautiful and good as
those iron gates. The man had been not
only good workman, but in his way a good
artist, as every good workman ought to be-
And so | thought as studied, and wonder
ed, how here was q lesson for all to read.
The time was when what was now 30 worth
less filed the eye Of England, Thousand
faces would turn to watch a witty and wick
ed oourtier sweeping along in her jewelled
pride, while the smith from nottingham
would be merely one Of the masses. But
because that man in his obscure smithy, put
hand and heart, and brain with good solid
| iron, turned il 70 the noblest uses he could
find, wrought as if it was religion to work
as have no doubt it was, the iron cmes
to outshine the satin and gold and gems, to
grow more beautiful and wonderful every
day.
III. But there is another thing never
! think about without q certain sense Of
\ pleasure. Ii is discovery 4 have made
sixteen years ago, when first landed in
this country from England, and went to
work N shop near Philadelphia. That
the workingman in America has better
position, better pay, more power to take
care Of himself, and A. more nearly on a
level with his CT ployer, than any other
workman of whom | have any knowledge.
/ 1t has often been my lot TO hear, English
men especially, CRY down this country, rs
inferior in every sense to the deal old moth
| er land, for the man who has to make bis
| living BY his hand labour. To hear tn n
talk the wonder is, not that so many E
/ lishmen come TO America, but that a j
greater number of Americans do not 70 w!
England to make a living. Sixteen vea
ago to-day / was on the Atlantic, nea-
over. had quit work on the last day D
March, 1850, and drawn my months wages
| | drew my FIRST months wages in this country
at the end of June. did not work so long
by two hours in the day in America, as had
worked in England, but was paid for my
work twice as much, and q little over. had
good friends and kinsmen in England who
feared might not do as well here as had
done there. They had seen emigrants who
had returned from this country, and had
said all sorts Of hard things about it, The
wages were poor-the work was searee-the
Yankees were sharp and would cheat you
out of your eye teeth. They said the whole
thing was a sham and my friends had believ-
red good deal Of it, and felt good deal OF
tooncefn. l never believed it,. IL was in
my homes to come to this country, as it is
in the swallow to fy in the track OF the
summer, and as was just then married, !
suppose for the same reason, because | felt
that here was the right place to build my
nest. You may be sure that did not let
many mails slip out before one carried a
letter telling the exact truth about the new
country, as far as had found il out, and
realised at once as much as this, that Am
erica in one month had made me feel twice
the man ever was in England, and IL to day
| was still working with my hands, instead
of nv brain and needed to tell the q nth
they ought all to know, should tell them
this That in the simple first things OF a
fair days wages, for fair days work, and
IF honor AID esteem to the good and faith
full workman, Of the feeling that he Is
man with vote and voice in the concerns
of the country, and the prospect for his
children, through our noble common schools
and colleges, that they may rise to be what
ever they can be that is wise and good,
there is no country on the globe that can
begin TO offer such advantages as this, even
with gold at twenty-six. doubt if history
ever presented a parallel in any time to
the condition Of the sober, steady, wide
awake American workingma--
| III. But now as | am il the way of tell
ling you what know from my own personal
stand point, want to tell you of some
things Just here, that consider as impor-
tsnt to the workingman's welfare in Amer
| lea, as any where else on earth, and that
underiie whatever good fortune l have had
in this good, plentiful land. When had
madest that one venture Inever made another.
I never took another risk. / went in TO
settle, and did settle, and from that month
of June, 1850, to the month of February,
1889, when certain gentlemen in this city
invited me to come and do something elses
| stood fast by the one good old anvil,
pounded out Of it my forty or fifty dollars
a month as the times might be good or bad,
let no Encouragement on this side or dream
Of doing better On that cut me loose, and set
me adrift, and when the offer came Of some
thing better, so far 90 the pay vent. than |
bad ever bad, took very good care, ! tell
you 20 make sure that it was not something
that was going to burst up /; but was as sure
as the thing was doing. ID was very glad
to work all the week for a living, and then
preach on Sunday for nothing, but topreach
for a living, and then not get it was what
did not believe the Lord required of man
with house i'm of children, and what |
certainly did not intend 70 do IL knew it.
Now, ia use term mora. expressive than
elegant, one trouble with the working man
in ,Alaei lea, is that he will never stay pat.
He Is naturally 80 clever, so capable of
turning his hand to almost anything, the de-
mand for good men to work Is generally so
very great, the rumours that here, and
there 10 this eisy, and that, you nay almpet
lfget agood days wages fer saying goa are