The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1874-01-24
4 WASP WITHOUT A STING.

We clip the following startling ~nhou"O'
> ment from the Pittsburgh Labor TT1b""
Of Jan. 2Ist, n journal published, We be
lieye. at least opce a month
FREE TRADE m PIITssUReH.
! q W. understand the workinymen OF fltU
hu.pb and vicir'ty are IL be treated To oo'e
Of free tIsds in tre slape OF ne"sPAPe.
Chicago. ,puted 10 be published IN ire i",eI
est o. labo- known as the HoFI1"9nt'" ~
,,ca,, WIth I'll respfc TO th's ~ s.;ng
;,urnaI and its very able editor, pro'1ss'us
| =, D., an ,.dvocate Of the interests o. l"D"i'
| n, hcIieye j. impossible for HIM OF I" W "e"e'
! nj labor by such pohcy' -,
" 80" trade thrice in our country's history,
L.inbr the workingmen Of our ration to
snup and corn bread and fifty cents day
Free trade is the dream Of proud aristocracy
who would reduce our labor 80 the level Of
the pauper labor Of Europe. Free trs lie has
too often Tiled our poor houses aud spread
desoIation throughout the land.
When labor newspapers become its cham
pious it is time to open our eyes to what pa
pers We are supporting.
But If Pennsylvania wnrkingmen want a
free trade paper ard want aid the dissemi-
nation of free trade IDEAS, let them take and
read our Chisa % contemporary.
1t is represented by party here, until re-
Gently connected with this paper He VIII
call On the workine uep in the nil I, end the
D ners N few days, to ask their support -
it, To tn who want wages at fifty cents a
dey, com dodgers and soup for diet, we
urte such u rally to MS support, 70 such are
tn legitimate results Of free trade
Now, it is an old saying you must go
from home to hear the news > and, no
doubt our readers will be as much surpris-
ed ourselves to learn that the WokKING-
MANS ADVOCATE is, or ever has been re-
garded as free trade journal, or that it
has directly, or Indirectly, advocated its
adoption. On the contrary, it hes stated
time Nd again, that so long as American
marrfa ;tuIers are compelled to pay IL to
- per cent for the use of money, while
British manufacturers can obtain al they
desire at 3, pro on is not orly Just but
necessary and So Chewing, it has advo-
ca ed for the p. st eight years, the adoption
of a monetary sys,em which would enable
our home mana ,turres, not only tosscom-
pete with, but to undersell the nations Of
the world
But the ADVOCATE does not believe in
protecting the manufactured article at tie
expense of the mechanic or the labor
Protection, as prac,iced in nine times ous
Of teu means the enrichment of the CAPT
talist at the expense of the toier means
dividends of 20 and % per cent to corpo-
rations, and ere subsistence to the men
whose labor | 'rduces these dividends !;
means that for cry dollars worth of pro-
lection obtained, the leech gets ninety five
per ce..t, and the boiler, the puddler, the
heater, rho deSei res and requires it, is gra-
ciously allowed the scanty pittance that
remains
The free trade bugbear of the Tribune,
however, is an old dodge. A few months
ago a similar charge was made against the
President of the Industrial Congress, and
when an emphatic denial was given to its
false and r, HESS charges, the 24Anllnoss
was lacking 70 asl.ethe amende honorable.
PM tie milk IA the cocoa-nut, the ami
mus OF the article, lies III the fact thst
within the past four weeks Orer 450 nelr
subscribers have been added to our lis Is
from Allegheny county alone. accompanied
with the promise Of four times that num-
Der in a short time and here is just where
Pittsburgh, which have been stopped for
some months, have just resumed business,
and the indications are that the ADvoCAT
will far ou,strip the Tribune, despite its
self-assumed role Of mouth piece of the
craft even in its home, hence the hue and
cry of free trade" But the disreputable
dodge is too transparent to succeed. ON
contemporary, though we hardly think il
worthy the name must learn that honor
able competition is one thing that lying,
housing cunning and SANDER is another
Yet we have no right to expect the writer
Of the charge to prove himself, what his
maker evidently never intended he should
be-a man. The course he has adopted
is one which every lover of fair play must
despise which can only rebound to his
own injury. If the workingmen of Pitts
burgh and vicinity prefer the ADVOCATE to
the Tribune - and we certainly commend
their good taste in SO doing our friend
should profit by the lesson taught, employ
the little practical knowledge Of the labor
question he may have picked up, to better
purpo~. than proving himself to be, alike
a lar and a knave