The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-03-26


their high oficial duties the ore our mas
ters, and whether ws Eecognis. among thea
friends or foes, We must be sensible Of th
fact that IN excusabls vanity on our par
is grati6ed BY their presence. We receiv
for our services m amount tor pay whicl
enables us to procure more than the msr
naked comforts Of Life; and when our dali,
work 10 finished. we leave this grand edi6ce
with its gorgeous frescoes. gilded arches
and historical paintings, often under tb'
glowing happiness Of ambition gratiied
and have happy fires and comfortable home
to glsdden the hours Of onr official leisure
4 True, We have our shadows with our lights
our clouds with our sunshine but does th'
honorable Senator wish me to contrast th'
picture with tho hems Of poverty and tn
abode Of the poor labor@? Does bs wisl
me to compare our occupation here With tn
toil Of the workingman. who suffers th'
biting blast Of winter and alike saduFcs Oh,
raging heat Of the summer sun, Who has n<
vacation indulgences at Tho SEASIDE OF else.
where. but who must toll wesrily from day
to day without surcease. rsesiving therefor
sufficient only to barely sustain Tie lives o.
himseif, his wife, and little cses; whoss
Christmas tree 10 poe' illamissa with many
lights Of parti-eolored tapss nor yet loaded
down with gifts
And yet the honorable senator seems un-
willing to allow this class the poor privilege
of an abatement Of two hours daily toll,
whereby that time may b devoted to bodily
rest and the pursuit Of sueh intelligence
and instruction as may prove useful to him
self and necessary to his family, insisting
that such reduction is demoralizing not only
to workmen, but to the principles that regu-
late and control labor. He asserts that
fnvolty will dominate over frugality, and
idleness and vice viii be reinforced in all
their attributes, should We continue the
privileges of the bill. Why, Mr.. President,
it is too apparent that vice, idleuess, and
frivolty, do not have their abodss exclusively
among the poor and labering classes; for
unhappily they bold high carnival among
the rich and prosperous and the sturnalia
are not confined to thoee Of the toilers Who
furnish occasi nal recruits 10 the billiard
rooms. base ball clubs, and groceries which
the honorable senator rsprobates in common
but unjust classification. Must the many
be punished for the crimes of the few, and
should virtue suffer the penalty Of wee ?
If we follow the argument Of the honorable
senator, to its legitimate conclusion. it
would appear that we should add 10, rather
than diminish the hours Of labor and that
if vice increases with the Elimination of In
Dor, it will decrease With ito aggrandizement,
and no limit is fixed to the happy medium,
the jaste nsitieu, when vice and labor might
approximate their respective relations with
out encroaching upon their mutual preroga-
tives, as established by the accepted laws of
society.
1t is not a question Of whether
the adoption Of the eight hour law by the
factories Of Lowell would result in their
eclipse in the market BY the products of
Manchester and Bradford, M suggested by
the honorable senator. The condition Of the
laboring classes in England is well known to
to be truly pitiable. Every English journal
duu CutOutCtcB btho uuTc1tcwe0 sui
+ferings of the downtrodden workmeu of
Gre Britain, and this fact is attested By the
large immigration which yearly Aows into our
happier land. to the depopulation Of the
mother country. The less said about fac
tories either Of Manchester, Bradford, or
Lowell, the better. Their operations will
not bear the scrutiny Of charitable and
liberal world and here ann reminded Of
couplet from one Of the many pleas in the
interests of labor made by the poet Tom
Hood
"Oh God, shat bread should be % deer,
AMI leah and blood chap"
Capital can protect itself 1t is a tyrant
which dictates its own terms, and monster
who consumes the substance which labor
produces. Labor requires protection and
consideration. The encroachments of capi-
tai upon labor have already aroused spirit
of resentment and resistance all over the
country. Conventions in the interests Of
labor are being held, and they threaten to
elect Congresses and Presidents. They are
the people, the bone and sinew which pro-
duce, and / am not insensible to the lessons
of the hour which their just demands pro-
claim.
| have the honor, Mr.. President, Of rep
resenting upon this floor a large constituent
cy who have heretofore been deprived by
slavery Of. all benefit and reward Of their
own toll. For over Two hundred years
the institution of slavery has degraded the
interests and responsibility Of labor in the
South, affecting the poorer classes Of whites
equally with the blacks. Through much
tribulation and bloodshead, the shackles
have at last been stricken from them, and
for the first time in the history of our
country its labor is now free, and involun-
tary service no longer exists. Under the
cruel laws of slavery, education was denied
this people they were kept in total obscu-
rity and darkness, the effort being to repress
rather than encourage intelligence. From
the first break Of dawn they were forced to
toll wearily, under the dispiriting lash Of
the overseer, with no hope but to see the
sun 60 down that they might have brief
season from the grinding oppression Of their
tasks. Their toll is now their own, conse-
cIdteG W lucm uy Suo Dese OiOOu Vi Tree
America and it is a matter Of deep con-
cern to the country and to myself, that they
shall receive the benefits of that freedom,
not only Of their labor, but in their educa-
ton; as well in books as in their new reIa-
tions as citizens Of the Republic. When
the war was over and slavery ceased, it was
the ringing cry all over the land that the
negro would not work and that be would
be the victim Of vice and disease. and con-
stitute banditti, to rob, plunder, steal, and
prey upon the community Of the South and
that the military arm would be required to
strong force to protect the whites from ra.
pine and pilliage. which the freedmen would
inevitably inaugerate.
Now. Mr.. President, what has been the
result This nation of laborers, hewers of