Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-09-09
HOME FACTS-WHAT THE DEMOC
RACY HAVE DONE FOR MAINE.

HOME FACTS-WHAT THE DEMOC-
RACY HAVE DONE FOR MAINE.
We called the attention of our readers
the other day to some facts bearing upon
the question of Labor in Augusta. We
showed that the greatest movement ever
made in our city for the benefit of labor
was carried forward by the republican
party and opposed by the democratic
What we stated everybody in this city
knows to be true.
Having seen what democrats here have
done to prevent the growth of the city and
the prosperity of our people, let us see
what course they have pursued in relation
to the State.
Up to 1855 the democrats had for many
years almost unlimited and continuous
power in the State. They shaped its pol
icy. They held the Executive and Legisla-
tive control and impressed their ideas up
on the people through a long sway in the
municipal organizations. During all this
time what did they do to develope the re-
sources of the State and improve the con-
dition of the peopleP What did they do
| for the Laborerp What encouragement
did they give the Farmer? What induce
ment did they hold out to the young men
and women of the State to remain in its
| limits What aid did they offer to the i'm
| provement Of our water power? How
much was railroad building promoted by
them? The answer to these questions is
generally known.
The Laboring man was glad to get ten
dollars q month.
He labored from dawn until dark for a
days work.
His wife was meanly clad-his house (if
he had one) poor shelter, without furni-
niture, and his children were poorly fed
and educated.
The farmer had no market for his
produce. 1.-The raised crop it was worth
less for everything but home consumption.
The joiner found but little to do, and
for that little he could get no cash.
All mechanics felt the pinching of power
W anu Dafu LlLueS.
Manufacturers came to the State seek
ing to invest money in factories but were
repulsed and went elsewhere.
Maine shrunk and Massachusetts, grew
on the policy which the democrats of our
State pursued.
Our sons and daughters went abroad
and built thriving communities elsewhere.
Boys left the homestead to go West, and
girls sought labor in the factories of other
States.
Our rivers were unimproved. the lum-
Der on the soil was first wasted, and then
the soil itself was sapped.
Railroads were obliged to fight their
way into existance, without town aid, I'M
der the idea that they were public evils
instead of benefits.
These were some of the fruits of demo-
cratic policy when that party controlled the
State. There was respectable and in-
telligent opposition to it, but it was pow
erless. The splendid privileges of the
State for manufacturing, which even then
attracted the attention Of capitalists and
skilled manufacturers elsewhere, and
which if then improved as they might have
been would now be places rivaling Low
ell, Manchester and Lawrence, were pre-
vented by the shortsightedness and mig
gardly policy of the democratici party
from being brought into market and use,
and woeful has the consequence been.
Had the policy then prevailed which now
does, how many of our stalwart boys and
blooming girls would it have kept from
exile True, they have gone else
where and prospered, we trust, and we
rejoice in their prosperity. but we might
have given them an equal prosperity at
home and increased the wealth, honor and
influence of the State. Here is the record
of what the democratic party has done for
labor. 1t has forced its own willing La
Dor, the best in the world, its own chill
dren, to 60 elsewhere for employment. 1t
has kept the farmer poor. the mechanic
destitute. All enterprise wilted under its
influence.
Now under more liberal and enlighten-
ed legislation and better ideas among the
people there is beginning to be something
for laborers to do. Lewiston, Biddeford
and Augusta show the effects of the later
policy. All over the State there are small
manufactures starting up and projected.
With proper care and sufficient time we
hall dnv Int. hAw- H.. FL al
manufacturing. Labor will NO more be
forced to exile itself, but will remain here
for the joy and comfort of parents, broth
ers and sisters, and the glory of the State.
What we desire is to have the waste places
and water powers improved. There is no
contest here between Capital and Labor,
but it is the interest of Labor to have Capt.
tai come in.
There is considerable talk made about
the tyranny of Capital over Labor. but
since Maine has been long sending abroad