Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1877-10-05
THE W0RKJYGNApS PARTY.

Inc euOrt 10 establish Worklngmah par
~ in this State is extremely unwise and inju-
dicious. 1t can result in no material benefit
to that class of voters, and is fraught with
n peril which may be productive of incalcula-
bic injury. If the mental vision Of the work
ingmen who have engaged in this absurd
| enterprise was not clouded by foolish fanati-
cism, they would easily perceive the threaten
ing ruin which hangs suspended by thread
o'er their dangerous pathway. This aban-
donment Of the Democratic party by them is
a desertIon Of the only friends who have ever
ministered to their wants, and q substantial
alliance with the very party which has plunged
them into poverty and starvation. Let us
take calm, unparalleled and unmpassioned
view Of the causes Of the late strike and seek
to find remedy for the evils which produced
it.
When the civil war was ended in the subju-
cation of tho South we found fastened on this
country in the shape Of United States bonds,
or printed obligatories bearing interest, debt
Of almost incaculable dimensions. These
bonds had been purchased by Northern CAPT
talists who saw nothing in the progressing
war except gigantic speculation, which fur
nished nnumerable opportunities for safe and
reliable investments Astounding in 'bonanza'
profits. Congress in its uncomfortable desire
and anxiety to completely conquer the South
proclaimed TO capital ''give US your money for
our bonds and you shall draw an amount of
interest from five TO six per cent, and be total
y exempt from taxation" With the avidity
of sharks the moneyed men Of the North
bought up the bonds and now, when peace is
restored and the country Ploughing, stumbling
and reelng through the stalling mire Of debt,
these capitalists sit behind in their silk cush
Toned carriages with a Havana cigar between
their lips and bottle of champagne in their
hands, cracking their whips and exclaimng,
"come up, as the laboring and agricultural
classes draw them safely through, under. the
lash. The lash that is applied with unrelent-
ing energy TO the backs of this laboring class,
which is working for the luxury Of capital, is
Starvation" "And why starvation" asks
our bloated capitalists, "when we are paving
them from seventy-fve cents to one dollar a
day for their work ?" Because every neces-
sary of life that they are compelled to buy has
connected with it rate of tariff almost equal
to the svalue Of the article they purchased,
therefore, when they pay twelve cents for a
pound of sugar they only get six cents worth
of sugar and the other six cents go to the
public treasury 10 pay the interest on these
government bonds held by capitalists So
when capital pays labor seventy-five cents for
days work it, in reality, only pays thirty
seven a-half cents, because in buying the ne.
cessares of life labor has to pay the other
thirty seven and a-haif cents in duties back tt
capital as the interest on the government bond,
which it holds. Now there is just the micro
scope through which the public eye may look
and see the cause why labor is starving upor
apparently good wages. If labor could buy
sugar, coffee, tea and other necessaries Of life
at their actual value, instead of paying at th,
same time the legal duties that are attached tC
their Importation, seventy-6ve cents q day
would be good living. But when labor has
to pay double the value for necessaries we SEE
at once that seventy-fve cents is ONLY eqnva
lent TO thirty-seven and a-half cents, and
thirty-seven and a-half cents to n man who
has family of children to support is merely
the herald of famine, starvation aud death
Now we do not pretend to sa- that lcgisla.
ton can fix the necessary amount that capital
must pay to labor for days work, because
the value Of products must arrange that, but
we do say that this government can impose
such taxation upon capital as will make it bear
expenses and the public Indebtedness as will
relieve labor from that burden which now
rests upon its shoulders in the legal require
mcnt to pay the whole of it, OF course, il
such legislation is enacted, there will be a
wild wall from capital about the sacrifice OF
the public honor. 1t will standspetrefed with
moral grief, and exclaim with moral horror
''You, the government, pledged yourself with
the most sacred obligation when we purchased
your bonds of Indebtedness that they never
should be subjected TO, taxation, and now, be-
cause you find you have drawn a suffoca-
ting halter around your neck, you propose to
break your promise to save Yourself" Let
US say to capital with that bold daring front
which Justice always wears, "We do intend
to break our promise, and you shall pay taxa.
ton. Our promise was torted from us by
you when we had need of money, and now
your mercenary spirit shall be met with The
necessity of people salvation and shall bend
to it,"
Let the workingman understand that there
is no means Of relief from the evils which are
crushing him except through the success o.
those Democratic principles which declare free
trade and equal taxation. Let him understand
that the Democracy has always assumed an
attitude of hostility to tariff, and that it il
only through the adjustment of tariff, which
will necessarily result in equal taxation tc
meet the public expenditures and liquidate the
public debt, that he win be relieved from his
troubles. Let him understand that the Re,
publican party is the fierce and unrelenting
adversary Of equal taxation, and any step the
workingman takes that may inure to the benc-
fit Of the Radical party lie stab at himself
We say to him in all disintcresied kindness,
for we sympathize with him in the msfortunes
which have darkened his home do not be led
by this wild spirit Of idiotic fanaticism from
that party whose principles offer you certain
rescue, and do not rush upon the inevitable
catastrophe that awaits workingman's party
! Arother boteh or Cran,,s ,rns,ad oe;o;.ls