The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-10-23
The WORLDS Workers il Cana,

The WORLDS Workers in Council.
The proceedings OF the fourth annr,I
gress OF the international Workin,noOa-
Association at Basel, Switz ,rlanj ens
commencement Of Septem5er, will Toe
| gsrded with peculiar intereS. bv m. re-
| gent toilers 10 all lands 7lu-
This association was esiabEs,al c,
purpose Of promoting A feeln, ~ VIII. o, ~
hood among the 10 iustrous a., ?''ef-
me VIliEsd Countries u The wIrIi, WI VII
toiGsure concert Of action up IN all a Ie,,' aso
touching their comnOn interests D LIS
attended from nearly all tAe Elrlnsas.- SIS
tons, and the United States was reprasa- III
bY Mr.. A. Q. Cameron, or Cnica,1 IA e
Mr.. G. o. Ward, Of New York Oy
The reports presented by TIE var,n
| tionalIties show that ia every co,a., w
Europe, the workers are hemm il N MI 70
laws, and legislation opposed to tbs;, ; oSs
ests. Even in Engllnd, although ,h.. 'u'ef-
| no impedIments to the voluntary so,;o are
workmen, yet the trades societies nos. .'Y" III
legal standing, and receive no nro.sos.u w
Iom the laws in case Of peculation NJ T AMI
Ulcers. 1t ls no crime 10 that c)nnt,v ~
a president or treasurer Of an assoe;o,' 'o'
swindle it out Of every shilling of WI c,.s
In France, TIE afililtion of w,rkin'
Is almost impossible. The Enperor 49,
nothing more than the Workingm,n s.
Of the delegates from Paris were stnnnsi II
the frontier by the police, ana tleir reo,.,l
and every scrap Of writing in Their po,s-s.;'S
taken from them. n was only by strs,a.u
that the workmen succeeded 10 electin, All
egates to the Basel Congress. ~
In Germany the wOrkmen are bs,t,, ,s
The famous cooperative associations or,sa
Ized by Shuttle, Of Delitsche, grew 70 h.
power before the Government becana $50
Of their scope and significance. The 80
| question 10 that country &C present "A nm
whether the Government will tolerate III
cooperative societies, but whetlar the n,
operative societies will tolerate the G,varn
ment. IL is to the everlasting credit of N.
workingman Of that country that their IN
resentatives in the Prussian Parliament apd
more recently, 10 the North German IN,
fought and won the great battle Of c)n,titn'
tional liberty against the encrOachment, 4,
centraliEltI9n, under the auspices Of ID, r..
mons Bismarck. Here Wa have an,blAax.
ample for American wDrkn3l HlE hn,
will it be before they max, their ina1sn,,
felt 10 Congress, and re-estAblish TIE great
principles Of liberty beqlsathel 20 a. by
Jefferson and Jackson
The land question was very fully discus,sd
ut the International Congress The prioei.
pie was LAID down that no MAJ should d,
permitted to own m1re land taan h. c1uli
cultivate. 1t was shown that The system of
great landed aristocracies was en- -s,ult Of
usurpations and cDnquests fo5tsr.d w olas,
legislation. The resolution for the aboli;iDo
Of private property ia lanl was adopt. b,
a vote Of twenty-five ayes to only four nay,.
Four delegates we're absent, an l thirte N of
those present abstainsl from voting. bsial
unwilling to commit them selves upon TIA
subject.
Americans can hardly IN lerStlni thu
over mastering imp lrtancs Of this land ul.S
tion in Europe. With our hun lrei. oi nll.
lions Of uncultivated acres, almost ev.rr
man can obtain a farm who is able and vii.
ling to work. But this il not the clse /,
Europe, and probably will not l)ny cla;iuus
in the United States. The capitalists aiI
political monopolists are grabbing tds D..
ple's land at fearful rate, and by-lnd.by
the question 10 America, a. II E1-1pe, vii
be how to rescue it from the spoiler.
Land means food, hope, and liberty, and
it is not in the nature of things that the
few can be permitted to mDnop,lizs il %
the deadly injury Of the many. Fiftv years
hence this question will come hone d ths
people with fearful reality.
The great error Of the European workmen
seems to be that they depend too much On
Government aid. They want the Govern.
ment to farm the land, to organize factories,
and to become the controllers, or rather
agents OF labor. This is all wrong. II Il
we're practicable or desirable to establish
governments invested with supreme control
over labor, IN less than ten years they would
abuse their trust, and become tho worst des-
Potlsms the world has ever known. The
grand idea should be ID abolish all govern.
ments, or at least deprive them forever o.
the power Of legislating the poor mans car.
nlngs into the rich mans pockets All that
industry really needs is to be let alone Let
no government dare to prevent or restrict
anv man from exchanging the proceeds Of
his labor for the proceeds of any other
mans labor IN any part Of the world. Above
all, Let no government dare TO usurp author
Ivy to take any portion Of any mans labor
from him without his consent. THIS is what
the worlds workers really require; and IL i
TO this they are slowly tending And it is as
. means to that end that the international
WOrkingmen's Congress in Switzerland is
chiefly important and significantly Y.
Democrat.