The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-04-09
A Plea for the Laboring Man.
Terry o'Neil on the Situation

~
Editors Of tho Register:
Will you allow me to introduce
through your paper to the public Sc
rious subject for their grave cousidera'
ton. While political questions are
seized on with hungry avidity and elo'
quent plstitudes delivered on national
honor; while every pen is piled with
rapid vehemence for party advancement
and individual aggrandizement, there ID
not a word said by our ruling orators
or written by laborious editors on the
rights of labor. While we lay hold on
mere superficial ideas of progress we
seem afraid to stir up facts on which
have always rested the structure of po,
litical and social order. In republi-
can government this think absolutely
wrong. The welfare of the individual,
his moral and social elevation should
first be considered, for as society is
composed of the aggregate of individ'
uals, we make stronger the whole in
proportion to the strength give each
part of which the whole is formed.
Here it is necessary that all should be
intelligent because Government de-
solves on all; here all should be
independent because the people
have no political superiOrs; here justice
should reign supreme because one part
of the wnole people acting unjustly
towards the other would destroy the
Republican idea of equality on which
tho entire supeIstructure of the Gov
ernment rests. Hence to alleviate the
individual adds to tho dignity of all;
to make him socially happy is to in
crease the happiness of all. do not
want to run this subject into what may
be considered party politics. And yet
l cannot avoid indirectly alluding, as
briefly as possible, to one or two rele-
want considerations. From the Gov
ernment at Washington taxation comes
frem on class to another,
until it finally rests with crushing force
on the broad shoulders of the toiler.
This has been frequently reiterated
without any decent contradiction; and
of this we working men have just rea'
son to complain.
If labor organizes for its protection
and men strike for what they honestly
consider their rights, the accusation Of
"illegal cOnspirGcieS" is beloved out by
every silly fellow who has learned to
advocate any cause for penny fee.
Illegal, forsooth! l thought that laws
were intended for the good of all-not
for the elevation of one and the degre
dation Of another. l. am a working
man, earning one dollar and thlrty-tive
cents per day. can form n pretty ac-
curate opinion of the governing system
here on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad,
and | venture to say that in no country
of civilization is there a more deter
mined purpose to crush out the very
life blood from the heart of the toiler;
q purpose moro systematic In de.
grading the mind and enslaving the
body is not to be found. Here it is
that the workingman of the
lower grade can have no liberty; his day
from dawn to dark, and his nights, If
necessary, belong to the company's use.
No hour of relaxation from toll, no hour
for mental improvement or the cultiva-
ton of little garden can be his. And
worst of all, this grinding corporation
this tyrannical monopoly is not to be
irterfered with; no law steps in to pro-
tect the poor man. The President
issues his mandate, and the poor serfs
hold down their heads in awe. The
under officers of the road have been ju.
diciously selected. Always ready to
even transcend the orders of their mas
ters, they instinctively anticipate the
of their superiors. The boss
stands a lent sentinel over his gang;
his eve seldom even takes an oblique
look from the range Of his command
and on him also are eyes that he knows
not of. Those officials are doye-tailed
into one another so closely as to chal-
lenge the keenest scenting. The inter
ests of the road mean the oppression of
the toiler and taxation of the commu-
nifty.
ask for the hard worked, sore.op-
pressed poor maa the advocacy of the
coed and honest of the community,
The silent but powerful interest of the
Masonic order will not work in his favor.
The close communion of brotherhood
belonging to one of our local churches
here. alas he is not of. Ho desires only
the protection of law-he demands it
as member of society. Trust me this
will be ere long brought prom
ipently forward, when evasion may
bring on ruin and refusal en- tail anarchy.
Members of your Legislature will ex-
hibit their elocutionary talents on mere
little silly distractions. but here where
n tangible, open evil is evident, they
fall back abashed from their duty.
The country is fast falling snder the
mighty control of corporations. This
very fact will be yet hegreat issue with
the people. That capital commanded
bv an individual or by corporation
has its rights marked out and strongly
defined in all civilized countries is well
kHown, and few there are who will
say that in many of the mechanical
countries of Europe the rights of labor
have not been nobly defined and hon.
estly protected, while here, in America,
those rights receive only, in some States,
q mere recognition, while in Others
they are looked on as red irons that are
unsafe to be touched. Those customs,
belonging of old to the feudal system,
and latterly to negro slavery, it is time
to get rid of. To-day in our young
State this vile custom exists. Rich cor
porations may take any advantage of
the workingman's necessities and
tighten the screws as they please, and
economists among us think this op-
ortunity is q right belonging to
capital. Cannot the Legislature
be urged to give this subject
some consideration Will you not ad
vccate our causei Labor is needed
everywhere and everywhere ought to be
protected. Let US 60 to work at the
foundation and clear away the rubbish
tbat iptarferea With tle snirit of nnre