The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1872-03-30
A SENATOR'S EXPERIENCE.
The Contrast of q Life.

me contrast OF a Lie.
In recent speech at Great Falls, n.
H., Senator Wilson, referring to some
experiences in his early life, said :.
l feel that [ have the right to speak
for tolling men and to toiling men. [
was born here in your county of Stat
ford. was born in poverty; want sat
by my cradle. I know what it is to ask
mother for bread when she has none
to give. 1 lett my home at ten years of
age and served an apprenticeship of
eleven years, receiving a months
schooling each year, and at the end Of
eleven years of hard work yoke of
oxen and six sheep, yb7ch brought me
eighty-four dollars/ dollar would
f was BORN antI wst~e 1rH years. ss
of age. I know what it is to travel
weary miles and ask lhy fellow-men to
give me leave to toik
I remember that ID Septembfr, 1888,
l walked into your village from my
native town, and went through your
mills, seeking employment. If any
body had offered me IS or SO month,
l should have accepted it gladly. l
went down to Salmon Falls, went to
Dover, 1 went to Newmarket, and tried
to get work, without success, and I re-
turned home weary but not discouraged,
and l put my pack on my back and
walked to the town where [ now live,
and learned a mechanics trade know
the hard lot that toiling men have to
endure In this world, and every pulsa-
ton of my heart, every conviction of
judgment, puts me on the side of the
tolling men OF my country-aye, OF all
countries.
am glad the workmen in Europe
are getting disconnected and want bet
ter wages. 1 thank God that man in
the United States to-day can earn from
three to four dollars, at ten hours
work, easier than he could, forty years
ago, earn one dollar, working from
twelve to fifteen hours. The first
month worked after was 81 years of
age. | went into the woods, drove
team, cut mill-logs, wood, rose in the
morning before daylight and worked
hard until after dark at night, and ]
received fer it the magnificent sum of
six dollars And when | got the money,
those dollars looked as large to me as
the moon looked tonight. On the farm
on which 1 served MY apprenticeship,
have seen the best men who ever
put scythe in grass working
for from fifty cents to four
shillings day, in the longest days of
summer. Yesterday [ visited that
farm. ] asked the men who were there
what they paid men in haying time
last summer, and they said from 50 to
81. so day This was paid on the
same ground where men worked forty
years ago for from fifty cents to four
shillings, and took their pay in farm
products, not money. l have seen
some of the brightest women go into
cents to four shillings a week, milking
the cows, making butter and cheese,
washing, spinning and weaving, doing
all kinds of hard work. / was told
yesterday that many young women
were earning, in the shops, 81 a day,
and that those who worked in houses
were gettirg from 50. so q week to So. so.
To-day the laboring men and women
of our country are earning from three
to four times as much in day as they
could forty years ago, and days work
IS shorter now than it was then. After
had learned trade III the place where
l lived l worked fourteen and fifteen
hours day, month after month, to
earn $40 a month. There are hundreds
OF men there now who in ten hours can
earn hundred dollars more easily than
l could earn forty in fifteen hours I
am grateful to God that this is so. I do
not care anything about a few men OF
corporations piling up great amount
of money. l believe God meant this
world to grow good men and women,
and hot to pile up money That is my
belief, and / want to see the men and
women who bear the burdens and do
the work have a full share of all they
earn, and that an honest days work
shall always have fair days pay.