The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-10-30
FROM LONDON.
the INTERNATIONAL WoRkINcNEN's Asso-
CATION

4
/ the privilege of calling the attention OF us
members t. the necessity existing lor Ine
establishments Of an emigration bureau, oy
which the interests II the working classes
Of both countries could be advanced, and inc
aims Of the unpriucipled designing knaVes,'
who, for the purpose Of thwarting the just
claims of the American mechanic, hold out
Inducements to continental workmen which
thew knew could never be realized, thwarted.
The following account Of the meeting taken
| from the London Bee Hue Of the 25th ult-,
will doubtless prove of interest to the gen
eral reader:
Meeting of the General Council, Tuesday,
September 81, Mr.. Cameron (of Chicago in
the chair. The minutes Of the previous
meeting having been read and confirmed, it
was agreed that the correspondence be post
poned and the reports Of the Congress dele
gates proceeded with.
Mr.. Jung expressed bis satisfaction with
the arrangements that had been made at
Basic for The reception Of the delegates, and
also with tho arrangement OF the place Of
meeting, &c. The number of delegates, he
said, had been ger than nc any previous
Congress; it had been q gathering Of really
representative men, AMI the presence Of q
delegate from America had crowned all.
Great progress had been made since the first
Congress. At Geneva the French delegates
bad sat in one corner, the German in
another, and 50 forth, and they had ad-
dressed each other as Frenchmen, Germans,
&c That spirit had entirely disappeared.
At Basic the delegates had freely mingled
with one another, and addressed each other
as representatives Of labor, not as bearers of
national distinctions. This, he thought, was
tremendous stride in advance. He no.
| ticed the number Of delegates that had been
present from France, and how futile the
government prosecutions had proved. He
further stated that the lithographic printers
Of Paris hal given an evening entertainment
on the premises Of their own cooperative
establishment, TO the London and Paris del
egates on their return from Basic. That
establishment was the result of q dispute
with the employers. Instead Of spending
their money IN a strike the photographic
printers had scraped together all they could
and embarked in cooperative production.
Their establishment was now only second to
one private establishment. Ga the whole
he considered the Congress a success, and
he was gra:ified that the press Of Europe
bad given so much attention to it's proceed
ings.
Mr.. ApplegaTth could only say ditto to
what he had heard. The Trade Union reso-
luton might have been extended considerab-
! ly; but there had been SO many in the com
mittee who were as yet new in the move
ment that greater attention had been given
to the necessity of Trade Unions than 10
what could be accomplished by means Of
them. 10 his opinion they were laying the
| foundation for q superior state of society, in
which no Trade Unions would be required I;
and the best way TO bring those who were
new in the movement to right conclusions
was to let them have their say. He regret
ted that the education question had not
been dealt with. He concluded BY express
leg hope that the result Of the Congress
would be lasting and substantial union
between the workingmen OF Europe and
| America
| MIR. Lucraft was not quite so well pleased
as Jung. He thought great deal Of time
had been lost by the reading of long re-
ports. But he was exceedingly pleased
with the order and regularity that had
characterized the proceedings. The report
ers who had talked about babel and con-
fusion had told falsehoods. He stated
some particulars respecting the evening en-
tertainment at Paris, and ended by saying
when consider all, am perhaps, as much
pleased with the result as any one else"
Mr.. Lessner said the grievance Of which
Lucraft complained was already disposed
of. In future the sections would have to
send their reports to the Council, and the
Council would make one general report. He
stated further that the doings of the Con-
| greSs had not been confined to the official
sittlngs /; there had been crowded meetings
every night in another part Of the establish
ment, where the various delegates had
spoken to the public, and Eccarus had oc-
cupied the greater part of one evening with
a lecture on the condition of the labouring
classes In England.
Mr.. Eccarius said there was no doubt that
the moral influence of the Congress had
been great. Nine months ago the Basic
capitalists had tried to stamp out the Asso-
citation at Basic, and now the Congress had
met at their most favorite place Of resort.
The Basic millords had attended the meet.
Ings, and would certainly form a different
opinion of the Association now to what they
had done last year. To what the other
speakers had said he would add, that the
General Council had been reelected en- bloc
without dissenting voice.
Mr.. Cameron was then requested to ad-
dress the meeting He said he would not in
lIct q speech, but simply state that his pre-
Sence was an evidence that the workingmen
Of America desired a closer union with those
Of Europe than bad hitherto prevail ed.
What ever INJURED the workers ON one side
Cf the Atlantic was injury to those on the
other side. There were but two classes
now. a-days, the robbers and the robbed. In
America they had taken u step in advance !;
they had determined upon putting a stop to
class legislation. They had formed an in.
dependent political party to legislate for the
whole people. In the new world they had
an arstOcracy of wealth in the old, one of
birth. One point to which be would call at
tentlon was the free emigration agencies in
Europe kept up by the capitalists of Ameri-
ca. At every step they were threat
ened with an iLnux Of men from
the old world. The miners of Pennsylvania
mad to work like slaves some part Of the
year to accumulate stocS, and then they
were told that the works must stop or they
must work fer less pay, and by the control
the companies had of the markets they often
raised the prices of coal to fabulous
heights. The workpeople had determined to
limit their hours Of labor, and TO have a
percentage when the price of Goals was
above the average. IN consequence Of that
demsnd they had been locked out, and the
whole capital press was agai INST the men.
But like here, the capitalist press was open
to them once year, at the time Of the con-
gress, aud then the truth had come out.
They had damnable system in Soma of
the manufacturing districts. All the
land adjacent 60 many of the factories
belonged to the companies, and they
tolerated no stores but their own. Toe
workpeople were paid with shirplasters, for
which they could only get about 10 per cent.
value Of the current money at any other