The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-09-28

under many serious diBAdv Antages, the
mos important being q want OF time.
pLring the progress II this story, our null
tlfarious official duties bore heavily upon
us, besides we were not local, being absent
from home at least one-sixths Of the time.
Most of these pages were written by gas
light, written at q time when the mind
wearied with the memorable duties Of the
day, needed relaxation and rest, and when
that free, easy, active play Of the imagina.
ton, 80 essential to the production of this
nature, was almost impossible We deem
it due to ourself to make this apology for
any errors or short coming the critics may
discover We would also say that not
being novel-wright or story writer BY
trade should gO great way towards disarm-
ing harsher criticism Sidney Smith once
said that novel was only meant to please,
that 1t should do that OF it failed to do
anything Viewed in this light, judged by
this standard, "The Other Side" viii
doubtless bs found wanting, and was not
written with the sole design Of amnsina
and pleaeing thsse rho mighA zaaa- u -ms.
design OF the author was didactive and de-
| fensory
/ To avoid the imputatiOn of egotism and
| gwen greater impersonality to the work,
/ it was deemed best to write in the plural
number
The absence of dialectical or character
Dialogue, will doubtless be noticed We
have never been able to see the utility or
necessity for slang in book or literary pro
| duction Of any kind, neither can we see OF
understand how our language is to be made
purer OF purged Of crudities and become
universally classical, by spreading before
the rising generation our ideas and
thoughts, clad in the garb of broken
French or German, Irish idioms broad
Yorkshire phrases, or backwoods Yam
keeisms
The main incidents Of this story are
founded upon notorious fact, 50 notori-
Gus, that any one wishing it can be furn-
ished with irrefragable, incOntestible
proofs in support Of all the charges made
againstthe typical employer, Relvason; that
workingnen have been-because being
trade unionists- discharged, photographed
on street corners, driven from their homes,
bounded like convicted felons, prevented
from obtaining work elsewhere, arrested
some prisons on er pIrfe evidence, or held
loath at the beck Of employers, thrown into
To bail in sums beyond their reach, by sub
sidized, preJudiced bigoted dispensers Of
injustice, and IN every mean, dishonOrable
manner imaginable, inhumanly vlctimized
and made "a feel that public opinion, law
and justice were Utopian, unreal mock
cries, except "a men of position and
money, the facts that have become history
recorded facts that will go down To more
enlightened generations, by whom they
will be- regarded a. 8 footprints on the
sands If our semi-barbarous civilization
links in an epoch ~ the history Of ascend
ing, progressing mankind.
All the liberty, all the freedom, now en-
JOyed by man, was born Of the struggle Of
workingInen To free themselves from serf
laws, the dominion Of the feudal lord, and
occupy position in the world, cOmlnen-
surate with their immeasurable, industrial
Importance in IL. So patent Is this truth
that even that astute statesman, M. GuiEot,
whose only aim seems TO have been TO give
a gloss t. the facts II history that would
apparently countenance the political acts
and designs of his r'ysl master Louis
Phillip il forced in his History of Civil4
ization' to admit as much when he says
= The struggle of classes constitutes the
very fact of modern history, of which it is
full. Modern Europe, indeed, 10 born Of
this struggle between the different classes
Of society The pages Of modern history
Of which il is full. Modern Europe,
indeed, is born of this struggle between
the different classes of society" The pages
Of modern history are glori6ed-they scin-
tillate with a dazzling record of wonderful
ly rapid progress Ill science, literature, art,
social and religious liberty, and this fact
e.l - L. & =.
and 80 told by no less a man than M. Gui-
zot, the bosom friend of royalty, the
champion OF aristOcrscy, the right hand of
one Of the greatest Bourbons. IL In true
hence, though GuizOt as statesman would
like to deny IT, As historian he could not,
did not and as this agitation has already
accomplished 30 much for the world, it is
our ardent struggle between the different
classes Of society win continue until every
vestige of barbarian will be superseded by
an enlightened, God-like sociality. This
struggle did not originate in modern times;
it dates as far back a. the time of Joshua,
some ,420 years aIAerlor to the birth Of
Christ, as according to DeCsssagnac, trade
unions existed at that epoch in Syria, and
wherever these institutions existed OF do
exist, there also were found, and are
found, evidences Of this struggle. Trade
unions existed in SolOmon's time, a. we
find many evidences of them in the eighth
book Of the History of Flavius JOsephus.
History also dates their birth among the
Greeks from the time of Theseus, and
among the Romans from the time Of EumA;
In the former instance dating back to the
heroic period, and in the latter about
seven hundred years before the Christian
Era. After the Augustan period, Roman
history is full and explicit on the subject
of trades unions They were under the
protection Of the government, regulated by
law, even 10 the number Of members each
union should have, OF ct least the maxi
mum number, and their offcers. law Of
Constantine, promulgated in the year 337,
mentions, specifically, thirty-ive different
trade unions but towards the end Of the
fifth century, they disappeared entirely
from the history Of the world, and were
not again heard Of until the thirteenth
century. And now we have reached Q
point where we intend to show that the
cause Of their disappearance furnishes one
Of the strongest Arguments in their favor
but before we enter npon that ground, we
we wish to make q digression.
In the year l726, there ap-
peared work by VicO, the greatest Of an
nalists, in which . theory called the Recorsi
was given TO the world. This theory was
based upon the discovery that hsmanity
returns upon itself at given periods Of
the life Of pe0plea Nov, let us make IN
application Of this VicOlAn theory. In the
fifth century the RaspAn world was inun-
dated by hordss OF bArbarianA, a. the
GOths, SexOOs, VandAls, Qusdi and other
northern peoples were then termed In
how FAR the term was correctly applied we
viii not venture an opinion, but it il evil
dent, from eli historical facts, that these
people we're more barbaross, and less en-
lightened, than the people they conquered,
and that civilization received severe back
set, one lecssaitating re-cOg.meaoessent.
after these hOrdes had swept over italy,
Spain, Gaul, aud Greece and it was
| sauSu~sau haGo~a