The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-12-04
YlH(Iiadgn on Labor.

Mr.. Charles Bradlaugh, the English
agitator, delivered lecture ON labor, in
which he said the question of labor
was one as old as humanity itself and
the real question of the future for all
countries. Z" In this country" said he,
"you have the moneyed class and the
moneyless class, and in this latter in
clude all who labor with hand or brain
for just so much wages only as feeds,
clothes, and shelters them, without
having the possibility afforded them of
putting by decent reserve fund for
what is commonly called rainy day. >"
He thought it might be true, here at
least, that the moneyed class was the
educated class, and at any rate if not so
it was their crime. The word of i'm
peachment, he thought, ought not to
lie in their mouths against the lower
class on account of their ignorance and
vice whenever and wherever they had
been deprived of their school. houses
and of the time and means for educa-
tion by the selfishness of the higher
class. With an eloquent tribute to the
memory of John Stuart Mill he quoted
the words of that eminent political
economist to the effect that call privi-
legged and powerful classes as such
have used their power in the interest of
their own selfishness, and have INDUCED
their own self-importance in despising
and not in lovingly caring for those who
were in their education depraved by in
feriority." The lecturer thought the
whole labor question resolved itself
into the four words, "high wages, low
wages" 1t might be difficult to decide
absolutely, he thought, what were high
and what we're low wages, as the nomi-
nal wages in New York as compared
with London, Paris, and other cities of
Europe, was no proper criterion by
which to judge of the matter. Five
dollars day might be low wages here
and Is. Cd. high wages in London, but
in general the speaker considered all
wages low which do not give to the Ia
borer over and above the bare necessi-
ties of life some of its comforts, and
which pinch the man, giving him no
pleasure. He believed high wages, such
as would give to the laboring man op-
portunities for self culture and leisure
for observation beyond the sphere of
his daily toll, the true remedy for the
crime which comes with squalor and
misery.
Mr.. Bradlaugh contrasted the condi-
ton of the poor classes in the city of
New York with those of London, Paris,
Edinburgh, Naples, and even beautiful
Florence, with its surface stratum of
elegance and luxury. How long our
cities would remain free from such
squalid tenements and such abiect pow
erty as are to be found in those cities of
Europe, the speaker thought depended
much upon the uses the working people
of America make of their privileges.
The lecturer denounced as dangerous in
the extreme the accumulation of over
whelming fortunes in the hands of in
dividuals, as in the cases of the Roths-
childs, the Barings, the Astors, and the
Vanderbilts. These men, he said, might
indeed be charitable, but so far as that
was concerned it would be far rbetter for
wOrking-men if charity were to be blot
ted out altogether. 1t was degrading
for the honest laboring man to ask or
accept charity at the hands of the Gen
eral Government or of individuals. The
remedy for all ills arising from INSULT
cient wages in this country at least lay
within the reach of the laboring masses.
elf, said the speaker, "as L am told,
you have seven-tenths of the voting
population, it is your fault, and say it
boldly to your very faces, if you are not
soon rid of your greatest evils. 1t is
useless to talk to me about the power of
political cliques and all that sort of
thing. If political cliques have this
power it is because you working-men
are not true to yourselves and thus give
| it them"
Mr.. Bradlaugh then pointed out the
| distinction between this country and
England in the matter of political pow
er among the working classes. "There
they can vote, it is true, but they can
not elect one of their own number to
any government position, because,
though permitted by law to do so, they
are prevented by the temper of society
and by the want of sufficient property
to support them in such positions
There is no working mans representa-
tion in England, but in this country al
this is changed, and you have the pow
er if you will but use it to correct the
evils of which you complain"
The question of trades-unions was
discussed by the lecturer at some
length, in the course of which he an
nounced his belief in their legality
utility, and their morality, and argued
that the worst abuses which had arisel
from their existence had come from
false legislation tending to suppress
them. He thought all trades-uniOn
should be political and cooperative or
ganizations; and above all, open anC
aboveboard in all their acts and discus
siODS