The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1874-08-08
THE PROSPECT AHEAD.

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We are no alarmist, and have no desire
to be. We prefer the ballot to the bullet ;
the sober second thought to the demands
Of the mob; the earnest protest Of the
American mechanic to the rawlings and
savagism Of the Communist aud yet he
must be a stoic OF heartless knave indeed
who can look forward 10 the condition If
the industrial classes during the coming
winter without feelings Of anxiety and
dread And it behooves those who nov
affect to pooh, pooh, the significance Of
the labor movement or make light III the
distress At present existing and the nev-
table consequences Of the continuance of
such suffering "a weigh well the result of
their folly before a realization Of that folly
comes too late
From every portion Of the country
comes the cry Of complaint. Business is
stagnant Our mills are closed our
mines running half time, at reduced prices
Grass grows in our shIpysrds. The build
ing trades are virtually suspended thous-
Ands of mechanics are walking our streets,
unable to secure days employment. Our
merchants are respondent. The farmers
are terribly in earnest. Our horde Of
national buffoons have frittered away
the day of grace in elimination and re-
crimation; instead Of complying with the
demands Of the people-in furnishing
national circulating medium and to cap
the climax the President and his advisers,
with their hveried funkeys are enjoying
themselves at Long Branch and Saratoga
Nero tddled while Rome was burning,
and his counterpart, from present indica-
tons, can be found IN the American Re
public.
These are strong words but no stronger
than the occasion demands. "REFoRM OR
REVOLUTION" is the ultimatum The
silly fools who talk about putting down
the uprising of the masses at the point Of
the bayonet mistake the temper Of those
with whom they have to deal Let them
once be convinced that a resort % force
Is the only means by which they can Sc
cure that justice for which they have 50
long and earnestly appealed which God
forbld-and the typhoon Of the Indian
Ocean never accomplished its work of de-
struction more quickly or effectually than
would desperate and incensed people-in
overthrowing their oppressors. When
poverty comes ia at the door, love flies
out Of the window ;" and it may be added
when starrd 'i0i, comes in at the door
forbearance is very apt to fly out at the
window, and brute force take its place
when once it has flown
Workingmen as a rule are neither knaves
nor fools They can generally see as far
into mIllstone-as a class, as any other
portion Of community. Their demands
are the demands of justice and necessity
not the rawlings Of the enthusiast, as we are
led to believe
They ask work for those willing to obtain
employment, and have right to expect it,
Bread they will and must have-no matter
at what cost it is-secured. Call it Com
munlsm, call it what we may, 1t is asking
too much Of human nature to suppose that
men will turn n deaf ear to the cry of a
hungry wife or child for bread while
thousands revel in luxury obtained by
and through the labor Of others. No ar
gument, no philosophy will convince them
that they are doing wrong in taking by
fOsce, when other means fail, when society
denies them by so-called law or logic
enough to keep body and soul together, in
land of plerty. I" Peacefully if we can,
forcibly if we must, " Bread, get it non
estly if you can but by all means get
bread" is a prompting which their revilers
may rest assured-upon which they will
act, when goaded by the pinching of
hunger.
And yet in spite Of this admission,
workingmen have, in great measure
themselves to thank for the state Of affairs
which they now deplore-they have too
long sold their birthright the ballot-for
a mess Of pottage to the political harlot-
the professional frand-and sold it too
with a consciousness that they were sign
ing their death warrant. They have pre-
ferred to entrust their interests to the oily
tongued trickster, nominated by this or
that caucus-tO the man who dared to
champion their rights. They have allowed
q petty, gangrened' jealousy to control
their judgment, when their vital interests
were jeopArdised by 80 doing have sowed
TO the kind-and are now reaping to the
whirlwind. Unless they awake at once to
q sense Of their duty and their danger