The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1866-06-30
THE sTONECUTTERs' STRIKE.


but little sympathy or favor. Other journals
are all, more or less, controlled by the capi-
talists, and are quite ready to lend helping
hand when the faces of the poor are to be
ground little closer
There is one thing, however, which COM
mon fairness requires and that il, that If
newspaper undertakes to combat US they
should al least state the ground > occupy !;
give our doctrine in its full length and
breadth. This win relieve them Of the
trouble OF creating imaginary defences fJr
US, and then proceeding to demolish them at
pleasure.
Our Fundamental. principle is that the
workingman is entitled to a degree of con-
sideration which he has not heretofore re-
ceiyed. Our contemporaries ignore this
claim Of ours and proceed upon the sunpo-
sition that the status Of the working nsr
must remain as it always has been. Hence
they reason as follows "Ail men have the
right to get the best price for their labor
aud their products that they viii fairly com
mand in the market" They win also say,
''that IL wages are high enough already, the
strike will not succeed, because people will
prefer TO 20 without the articles than to pay
out Of proportion but if wages are too low,
the strike viii generally succeed, and this
viii be an evidence that wages were too
low"
Now without putting the fact in question,
whether "People would go without these
articles" or whether they would be COM
PEELED TO have them. we will merely remark
that, fair as the argument apparently is, il
entirely opeylooks the question al issue The
argument assumes that the working nan
shall continue 10 be Whist political economist
have always regarded him; that is, small
proprietor, with the ability TO labor Cor his
capital an Operative" in the same sense
that Blsmsrk would call the poor Prussian
conscript "a musket" 1t is against this
very doctrine that we are protesting, and
yet contemporary journals are cool enough
TO make il the foundation of reasonings which
they address TO us. The question is rot one
ofdollars and cents, it Is purely moral. Are
We TO be regarded simply as producers Of
4. value" placed on the level Of tn OK and the
ass; pumped into one side q the scales
and
Weighed IL a tyrant's balance with bis goldgp
How strange it is that men do not see, Of
profess not to see, that this is precisely the
argument of chattel slavery ! It cannot be
denied that in the main, the slaves Of the
South were we'll fed and well clothed, and
provided for in sickness and old age. If we
consider mere physical wants, they were
better off than the four millions paupers Of
Great Britain. Yet, these four millions Of
British slaves, according to the common
law, were perfectly free to go when they
pleased and to come when they pleased
yes. they were perfectly at liberty to GO
and starve. Had not Adam Smith demon
strated that a laborer nominaiiy free was
more valuable to the capitalist than the le-
gal chattel?
This despotism Of the English common
law, stemming out of feudalism, and tainted
with its spirit, was not unknown to the
great Democrat, Thomas Jefferson. If you
read the Declaration of Independence with
attention, you will find an idea there which
capitalists have never insisted upon devel-
oping "All men are born with certain
inalienable rights, and among these are life
liberty, and the pursuit Of happiness. =
The fathers meant that these, with certain
other specific, inalisienble or natural rights
which they would not undertake to numer.
ate, bur leave TO be worked out in the spirit
Of Republican liberty. The workingmen Of
America are true to Republication wheT
they insist upon being recognized as some
thing more than operatives" and having
rights which capitalists are bound to res.
pect. They bold that "amOng these
rights not specified bat inferred by our ia
theirs, is the right of labor to demand oil
capital those conditions which will el biz
tue men who pillow our fields, man our ships
fight cur battles, and make US respected Al
lome and abroad, to support and educat,
their families and to put them out of th,
reach Of inGigence, vice and ruin.
II the int erests Of the workingmen have
been heretofore in danger from the hands oil
capitalists, that. danger has now been in
creased in a twofold proportion. The wal
has made great social changes; the rich
have become richer, and the poor poorer
The enormous national debt Is being gradu-
ally consolidated iD the hands of the few
who hope by the possession of such immense
wealth to control the legislation of the
country. In addition to this, as capital be-
comes aggregated the price Of labor goes
down. Already we see the vast and grind.
ing,monopolies, which have been organised
throughout the country, and which are
rweeping everything before them. The
Wefkingmen must stand firm II they would
not be swept away with the a6Hd. Our So
cial life has not yet settled down into regu-
Tar channels, and now, In this formative
period IL remains to be seen whether the