The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1875-07-14
FOURTH OF JULY GRAFTON.
BY Hon. sam1. s. Cox OfNsw York
ANOLASAN@
SUAIPTUARY LAWS.

any reason why lean man or any other
man should make plans for his house or
enter into his house and control it. By the
Same rule, let fat people look after the lean
kind! Let US compel the thin to health
Ter diet, and by the regimen of the Lam.
bert and Falstaf school roll large layers Of
lard over their abdominal muscles! This
will Of course produce unity and harmony,
and our homes will be- happy. There are
men without health or goodness, who
would rule US in dietetics and morals.
There are men who would analyze our
stomach by legislation. 1t would be wise.
in view of a complete Maine law and Mas
sachusetts constabulary, to have the duo
denum, esophagus and capillary ducts Of
our people subject to congressional or
state chemical labratory. Somebody last
congress proposed congressional commits
sion on intemperance. The next thing
somebody some day will inquire as to our
mode of sleeping and our tones IN snoring
IF men interfere with the freedom of the
gullet, they may after while get at our
clothes or hair Is it not as much the
business of the state to inquire into and
make penalties for man who wears g
swallow tail or short hair. If swallow tails
are sign of degenerate politics, let us
Tammany braves go in our shirt sleeves, or
we may have SUN ptuary laws for the toilet.
Some are getting bald headed! What of
them? Nor can we always wear our
clothes to suit even legitimate Home
Rule'-to wit, the wife. And yet the lib
erty of eating, drinking, wearing clothes
and hair pretty much as we choose is quite
a precious relic Of home rule. What is
the lesson from these excuses of power
Simply, settle certain things for yourself!
No outside interference. No calling on a
mythical Hercules for help at every rut
WAGES,
Do we want some Radical commissioner
to teach us about wages in this city. Dc
we not know that the Democracy intus et
IN cute-inside and on all sides-are thu
friends Of the working man? DO we neeC
to go outside Of our own representatives
our Democratic organization, to have il
settled, that for fair days work there
should be fair days wages! What war
rant has the Republican party that il
should gain by any question of wages? lie
Republicans use their untaxed bonds, ant
custom-houses for brief time yet. 1t il
for the Democracy to give to and receive
from the tOilers of the city, proper anC
honest support. State spoilers and tariff
mongers cannot tutor what they do not un
derstand or practice.
The Romans had an Office called censor
dgrdrii, who so interfered with labor tina
they forced the idle to work even by chas
Using them. That can hardly be done un
der our modern systems and codes of rul
ing, but even so rare thinker as Monies
quieu has held that there are graduation
of merit and utility in labor that regulat
the degree Of favor. He would have tn
cultivstor go before the merchant, and tn
plough maker before the coach-maker; tn
iron worker before the tOy-maker, and tn
clothier before the embroiderer; the build
er of walls and roofs before those of sta
tues and columns In other words. h
would, before the splendors and corruptio
of state, cultivate the frugalities and il
dustries which make homes and max
them happy. In our time no such ethiC
prevail. All that the leaders of opinio
demand is that no unjust discriminate
be made against the useful producers an
in favor of the useless consumers of soci
ty, We would not have the droues live q
the honey of the hives and be made kin
and queen, while the industrious be-
starve The best sumptuary laws again
the luxury of this time is to equalize tax
and tariffs and thus give fair pay for ia
work. If we would elevate labor, eth
in wages or dignity, let US either destrC
the birds of prey or pull down their nest
1t was this Home Rule which, in the tin
of Charlemagne, crushed barbarism al
communes like those of Cambria, Lao
Noyon, Beauvais and st. Quentin, esta
fishing Home Rule, made quiet revoluti(
for the poor up to the foot Of the thron
They were the forerunners Of the free Ct
les and towns which led the march of cor
mercial enterprise and municipal freedom
This spirit sacrificed individuals that Il
interests of thousands should be promote
1t divided estates, and made farms al
hamlets out of princely demesnes whe
princes hunted and only the wild WOO
grew. In the time of Alfred it divide
England into counties and by many soci
improvements planted the germ und
whose growth, as under a de.spreadil
heaven of foliage, 40,00O,000 in a ne
hemisphere assert similar rights 1t maj
the elective franchise, which first startil
as q means of aristocratie competition f
control, ended in a title-deed of nobility
each head of home, Slow but sure h
been the progress in suffrage until at la
household suffrage has become in Englar
q household word, 1t was this spirit whit
inspired the father of Democracy to inau
urate the wise and frugal governme
which, while restraining men from iDju
ing one another, left them otherwise FRI
to regulate their own pursuits of industr
and which he declared ought not to tai
from the mouth of labor the bread
had earned. When we depart fro
these Democratic maxims we depa
from right, and should lose powe
Who is there in our midst that would di
criminate against working men, skilled
unskilled? Why, the very life of tt
party lies in its ever ready sympathy wit
labor. If on question of wages the
should be differences of opinion; or if
discussion, the true relations of wages
employment are developed; or If by Il
collision of interests, or even the appeals
demagogues, a renewed interest is arouse
in the fate and future of those who liN
from day to day on their hard earning
something of good will have been educe
Time and again have L called attentiO
with figures aud facts to the causes
high rents, food, clothing and all til
necessaries of life, through reckless an
selfish taxes and tariffs-state, Feder
and municipal. Time and again have
warned of these sad days for the artisa
and laborer. Out of the debate will con-
relief. But, as a principle of Democrat,
let me say that no permanent relief wi
come by too much leaning upon goverl
ment or too much intermeddling by 60,
eminent with labor. 1t is the curse of OF
time, this grasping of the rich. who do u,
so much need the care of government.