The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-07-09

MIC OF THE BLAcKsSIrHs AND MAcHINIsTs
UHIoss, OF SYRACUSE, AT NORTH HECTOR n
Y, w WEDNEsDAY, JUNE Is, 1870.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm this beauti-
full and lovely place, more lovely in its ma
tural beauty and simpl than any temple of
art however much adol ID, we meet to-day
to rejoice and congratulate each other over
the success of our previous efforts in behalf
of labor reform, and to encourage and stim-
ulate each other to greater efforts in the fu-
ture We are engaged in work, the sue
cess of which will be more important and
more beneficial to the human race than any
work that has engaged the attention Of man
kind.
Labor reform if entirely successful, will
not only benefit ourselves but will benefit all
classes in the present and all coming time.
"But," says some old fogy, who is al
ways harping on the good old times, Don't
agitate the subject Of labor, you will only
make things worse; if you get more wages
or work less hours, you will have to pay
more for everything you buy, and if you get
more larning' it will not do you any good !;
my grandfather got along very well and he
worked fourteen hours day for one dollar,
and be only had farming enough to read
the Bible and the Psalms" Such old 70.
gies ought to have lived in the good old
times of Edward III, in 1852, when wages
of workmen were fixed by act Of parliament
at one penny day for haymakers, and
three pennies for master carpenters and
other carpenters two pennies. Were they
not good old times? And what but aSita-
ton has made them any better?
The true labor reformer seeks for the best
and most feasible means to meliorate the
human race, in every possible way, in season
and out Of season be is the advocate and
supporter Of free schools, of temperance, and
Of every good word and work Friends, we
would congratulate you on the success of
the National Eight Hour Law, making eight
hours a days work for all government en-
ployes. We would also call your attention
to the action Of the legislature in regard to
establishing Reformatory State Prison. un-
encountered with state prison contractors
These movements we look upon as encour-
aging signs of the times. But, friends, the
labor movement is not confined to any two
or three measures.
No pent up Utica contracts our powe;s,
The whole unbounced Universe IL ours.
As true, unsel6sh reformers, we shall find,
after exterminating one hoary headed abuse,
our eyes will be opened to see others as bad,
and we shall find
That virtue a eternal Ee
Than force or fraud old custom, legal
Crime, and bloody Faith. the ioulest birth Of time.
The greatest obstacle in the way Of reform
which we must overcome, to some extent,
before we can be entirely successful, is the
tenacity with which the great ma ajority Of
mankind cling to old customs, wicked laws
and old time superstitions, provided always
that they are old but, thanks to the inven-
tors of printing, printing presses, and the
free school system, the human mind has be-
gun to throw off this deadly incubus, and is
waking from its Rip Van Winkle sleep, and
is beginning to dare to listen to reason and
truth by whosoever uttered. The capitalists
and their representatives are in the habit Of
asserting that the labor refcrmers are asking
for special legislation In their favor, while