The Hawaiian gazette., 1873-11-19

sketch ofthe Great Labor acknowledgement
Emigration scheme.

uluuSl- pan Wiz P'-S9~S
every morning dresses as well as Joseph
Arch. Tomorrow, this poor Englishman,
with neither wealth, beauty nor high
birth to command him, will dine with
Lord Dufferin. Governor General of the
Canadian Dominion.
Joseph Arch, the poor and plain Briton,
whose fortune could be trebled in ten
pound note, exerts political influence In
England at this hour that bids fair to
revolutionize the Government of that
country. The laboring men Of England
have unbounded faith in him. They call
him "Our Man-Our Joe" Himself a
hard listed bread winner, whose home is
the low matched cottage in which he was
born, he comes to America at the bidding
of his fellow laborers in search of that
land of promise where labor is no longer
serfdom. Joseph Arch has just finished
telling your reporter the story of his life,
and this is his homely sketch.
"AIy father was workman, and the
summer when l was nine saw me at SER
vice soaring crows from the grain fields.
/ used to mind the birds till the wheat
got up and then, at harvest, I'd help the
WAGNER home. fancy l was not very
clever as young'un, but the years went
by and it was Joey Arch, the plOwboy.
Then l drove tidy team and began to
think myself bit o man. l worked
from light till dark. Father was no
scholar, and night-times l had trife o
teachin' from my mother. In summer l
harvested, and in winter helped the shep-
herds, ran errands and growed up good
for-nothing like. When | was not quite
one-and-twenty found good lass for a
WIFE Mother was dead, and wife and l
made a good home for father My weekly
wages was nine shillings. a nice girl
was born, and then boy, but all | could
earn was nine shillings Well, in time,
with Goals, candles, medicine, and rent,
the best l could do was a little better
than starvation. Wife and had 4 nigh
ty hard struggle to keep together, and
one night she broke out: Joe, man, Pm
tired O. this. We're starving the children
and killing ourselves. l don't blame you
man, but I'll needs go to service to earn
the little can for you and the children.
I couldn't stand this, and l packed my
tools and went to work for higher wages.
l tried hedge-draining, and for many
month stood in water up to my knees.
A sickness came presently, and wife,
children and myself were down with the
smallpox. Ay, those were hard times,
and finally, with a face as you see, that
carries the scars, commenced the strug-
gle once more to keep the home together.
That struggle has never ended. To-day
1 have had five shillin' bit 1 can call
my own l am at work for the laborin'
men of England, on the pay of a laborer,
and the shillin's receive go to my family
at home as so much weekly wages.
A simple agricultural laborer i'll Eng
land, l come to America to state some
facts and get at some truths. l am not a
speaker, but have true story that must
be told to the people of this country be-
fore return. should be glad to tell it
in New York. l know little grammar.
l shall make verbal slips, but when the
American people fully understand the OBJ
ject of my mission, believe they will
hear me with kindly patience In Ameri-
ca you have no conception of what farm
laborers have to endure. The Agricultu-
raj Laborers, Union, of which l am a
has succeeded increasing the
wages some, but there are many districts
where the man of family tolls ten and
twelve hours day for nine shillings per
week. Through the Union the laborers
are being brought into close sympathy.
The Union lads number hundred thous-
and, and for the first time in the history
Of England the laboring men are begin
ming to know and understand one anoth-
er. They are realizing that vital rights
have been denied them, and are learning
how to effectively unite in the struggle
for common freedom. am told that
the impression prevails in America that
the English farm laborer is not oppressed.
If l do not correct this erroneous view,
shall fail in one of the main objects OF my
visit. l assert that the longing of the
farm hand for home in the new world
grows out of the injustice of the English
rulers, and am here to prove that asser-
ton true. l am here in the teeth of the
of England to show that arts
Locratic Legislation for the laborer is Grim
nally unjust. l have a little patch of
and down in ENTHUSIASTICALLY an
eighth of an acre, that is leased me to
farm. Wife and children grow the cab
Dages, and caulifowers and Brussels
sprouts 1 can't get to that little garden
spot without passing the preserves of the
h. IL 1