The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1874-05-16
FROM OHIO.
CLEyELANn. d. MAY 4. IS1


To the Editor Of the WoRKrNGNAN's ADVOCATE:
The whole country is ablaze with the
plaudits OF patriotic men over the life la
bOrs If one Of the great men that have
Just been brought to close. He entered
the ranks Of the army Of liberty aud fought
the battle manfully. Those with whom
he marched side by side, and struggled till
the victory was won, have forsaken the
principles upon which they enlisted, and
sought only To crafty only their own base
desires, made them too his enemies, for he
contended for the love Of the cause only,
and not for the spoils. Ii was not the
wish to plumber the nation and claim it as
a right that inspired him To work for the
emancipation and the advancement Of civ
illzation, and because It was not he was
made the victim Of abuse and censure
and utilization Now that death has
claimed him, and he has gone the way Of
all flesh, many who were loud in their
denunciations and howled because others
barked at the great man, JOIN the chorus
and sing hallelujah's to his memory. Why
all this one asks. Why thus parade the
virtues of the lost one, and hold up the
earnest noble efforts Of a mind true to the
cause of freedom singly for the good that
was in it : Is it not to impress US who
are left behind with a lesson that
we need TO learn That we too
giles for greater freedom. That we too
should swerve not from our purpose, being
satisfied we are right, but push bravely on
Indifferent to every obstacle, and, as we
make one point Of advancement, see an
other, and work at it with the same dill
gence and energy till 1t Is made, and SO on
till the end. Is it not to teach the Pha-
raohs Of our age that they be not 50
" stony-hearted, but let the people 70
Does 1t not convey the idea that the mass
of the people are IN a state Of seml-slavery,
and that there are voices, not perhaps 50
eloquently, not perhaps 50 powerfully, not
perhaps 50 scholarly, but | will venture as
truthfully as the mighty Summers in be
half Of colored men, pleading the cause
everyday. Are they more willing to re-
iinqulsh their grasp now that the story Of
his life hasseen told by thousand tongues
and the moral held up that each might APP
ply it to himself and profit thereby If
not, then all the haun.lng Of that life be-
fore the public mind is a show, and the
tears they shed because Of the loss mock
cry and delusion.
How many men to-day among our miners
and other classes as we'll, who, striving with
all their might, that some wrong might be
rigbted that some grievance might be
rem.died that some measure OF oppres-
sion might be removed f; that the sphere Of
their liberty might be enlarged, are made
the but Of persecution by those who EN-
ploy simply because they ask for that which
should be theirs.
The miuing districts afford many exam
pies. Some Of the miners in Indiana con
sIdered that it was unfair of the bosses to
reduce their wages a couple of months ago,
because for the very sufficient reason that
there was NO reduction III the cost Of the
necessarles Of life, and moreover they were
not getting more than three days work IN
the week at best, which fact made them
the less able to bear a reduction IN their
wages. They struck, and those men who,
no doubt, IN private circles, appear to APP
preclate the life Of the noble Senator who
has Just gone, turn round to their work
men, who, compelled by want, profers to
accede to the terms demanded by their
taskmasters, and tell them For your
efforts to maintain a living rate Of wages,
will not employ you, and if it were pos
sible, you should not be employed any
where else in the country, could we pre-
vent it," Does not this CAVITY ones mind
back to the olden time wheh9 history teach
es US, men were sentenced to be starved to
death. Is it possible that IN country ike
this, because men will not submit to every
kind Of oppression which the inventive
genius of tyrants can devise, men must be
doomed to starvation 1t Is tact-here
Is the instance we are holding up to
the ewes Of the world the freedom Of the
slave in the South to satisfy our vanity.
IL the paneUric on he life of Charles
Sumner by Carl Schurz, Which, v echoed by
every paper in the country as gem,
teaches US anything, It teaches that the
American people should follow in the foot
prints Of their elder brother. l do not
mean by this that all men can be senators
or be az conspicuous leaders a. he was, but
all. in whatever walk of life, should be
animated by the same lofty longings that
inspired him throughout his career in be-