The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1874-04-11
FROM INDIANAPOLIS.
INDIAEAPoLIs, April 8. 1874.

account, and on Saturday, April %, we
intend to have torchlight- procession and
mass meeting. Our trades assembly Is
growing numerically and financially. They
have organized about six unions since last
February, and after our next parade there
Is no telling how many unions they will
organize. They are making extensive
preparations for the occasion, and there is
another thing that is agitating the work
ingmen, and that is the election, for it
comes to head next month. We find
that the time has come when the forward
movement Of reform cannot bel delayed
Such measures must be adopted as will
relieve us from the needless pressure pro-
duced by those who IN the usurpation and
abuse of power, have wholly employed it
in the interest of combined monopolies
Allow me to state few things 50 faith
fully pictured by Judge Dwnelle, in a
speech delivered in San Francisco, in which
he says "When we see men born to feel,
''and educated to think and enjoy, living
upon wages which hardly enable them to
feed and clothe their families, and which
''do not open to them the sources Of cul-
''ture or Of enlarged enjoyment, we ask
ourselves: Is this all Of life which belongs
''of right to rational, intelligent human
being! Is it the whole Uf life 10 live. to
work to be fed, to sleep and to die But
when we see such man, strong, healthy
''and able, desiring to work aud not able
ITO get it, who cannot feed Or clothe his
family, driven to destitutIon, 70 suicide,
and his children dragged down into
crime, or that abyss % pollution which
rs worse than death, we cry out There
''must be remedy for all this, In Gods
''name let us have it, This man shall live,
''and not die
The world is watching with great interest
every movement in this direction, and if
the worklngmen will only lay aside their
IDOL for once and only once, provided 1t is
good material, of course we have men Of
party, or any other principles with us,
what do they care for US. 50 they can ride
into office. They are with ,ss, but yet are
not of us. In getting the rights Of the
workIngman We must get good material to
get our rights. We must inspect the ma
terial as tar and as deep as We can, before
we receive it. Sometimes We elect men to
office on the workingmans ticket who are
thought t. be excellent material, until too
laJe. We find our error. Ii the material
should be unfit for the builders use we
should throw it aside. IL will soon 20 to
decay of itself do not believe there is
a workingman on the top Of Gods green
earth who receives enough wages per day
to support his family as he should. | get
50 and some times So per day, and find it
not sufficient 70 support wife and one
child. You hear people talk about trades
unions, how they are trying 70 gull the
capitalists, The people who talk about
such things have no idea above flea
They don't know what they are talking
about, we will 70 as far back as the worlds
history, and we will tind that long before
the days Of Joshua of Old aAioas existed
and tourlshed among the people and /
can say here that trades unions never came
into existence until forced into life by the
the tyranny Of those who bought labor
Trades-union are no modern invention
We find them in the days u Moses We
find them in the building Of the Temple
Of Solomon, nearly all that gigantic under
taking was managed by unions. Solomon
found them indispensable for the erection
Of this work. He went 10 Tyre for Hiram,
Of the tribes Of NaItaali, a worker III
brass. Flavius Josephus tells us that this
man was sklllful III working IN gold and
silver and brass. We hnd also that
previous to the building of the Temple
that KING Solomon had collected together
the organized building trades Of Judea and
the surrounding country, which banded
together in one body. After the compile
tlon Of this temple the members Of this
union separated and departed for their
respective countries. This trades-uniOn
has contributed more for the advancement
Of science and education among the toiliDg
many than any other charitable Or educa-
tlonal institution since the world began
When the Roman empire was at the
height Of its glory, its grandeur was all
attributable to trades union. Trades
unions are hardly such things AS our enc
mics would have you believe them to be.
The rapid strides in skill, civilization and
progress, are attributable to trades-union
in every country and in every age. The
same Is true Of American Worklngmen.
Herein lies the necessity of trades union,
as educators Of worklngmen. Ne will
take in our contrast the people Of what
was termed the most enlightened country
in the world. Fifty years ago the work
ing people Of England were considered
nothing more than mere machines. They
had nothing to do but tamely submit to
their oppressor, the least disposition on
his part to avoid the opposition made HIM
an inmate Of a prison Such conduct as
this became burdensOme to the laboring
classes and called into existence trades
unions. l did not intend to write a
lengthy article but when my thoughts run
in tins channel, | never knew when to stop
thinking. 1t is the only subject that |
care to devote much time to- hope
shall live to SCI the day when the work
ingman shall get his rights. We need
more time for ourselves We get up say,
. O'Clock in the mornin. take our grub
with us. Go to work and return say,
half-past SIX in the evening There are
thirteen hours and a half We are away from
home. Some men take paper, and often
1t rs the case they retire not able to read it
on account Of working too hard through
the day We need more time for study /;
more time for the service Of God, and
more time for ourselves. am sorry 10
say It, although il is -, there are too many
mechanics who spend their leisure hours
IN rum mills, instead Of improving their
writing, OF reading or drawing or In fact
/ they had better walk the streets than sit
all their time away IN such places. There
are plenty of worklngmen VINO would inn
prove themselves If they had the time
We need more time. We must have more
time for moral. mental and social improve
ment, We want more time to enable Us to
become better acquainted with our children
We want more time to enable US to teach