The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-09-18
The Commune in Amer1ca-The La-
Dor Troubles.

The Commune in A~merlca-The La
Dor Troubles.
The severest blow that has yet fallen on the
Comnunisiic agitators in this country Is the
permission to come before q Committee OF
congress and state their grievances. Turn
over Il fiat stone that has long lain undis-
turbcd In you garden and multitude Of
hidcous beings will start into frantic activity.
So. no sooner have aggrievcd working men
been invited TO make public their wrongs and
suggest their remedies than q hnndred wild
schemes are brought to light. and agitators
dark arc exposed TO full view. People do not
like the exhibition. and it wiz surely have
gogues and Missionaries who have been get
ting aid and countcnancc from those who
ought to know better.
The Committee, of which Mr.. Abram S.
Hewitt Is chairman. was appointed to inquire
into the causes Of distress among the labOur-
ing classes. 1t met last month In New York,
and invited working men to come Onward
and state their casc. Thereon was promptly
fiIlcd, and 1t has been filled every day. Bot
the genuine working man has hardly been
seen. A queer lot Of representatives have
offered to speak for him-proresscd Socialists.
rcconstructorS Of the universe, rampant
Atheists, here and there All officer OF q tri.dcs
union. Delegates from the StOnccutters'
Union demanded that contractors in their
trade should be compelled by law to have all
the stone cut on the spot where the building
"th' w ~ ttt VI, tkiINA IIcD az IlS u1ll , anu
when II was asked II a man might not have
work done where 1t could be done cheapest,
lhcy said.no; q contractor should not be al
lowed to bid unless he could afford to pay de-
cent wages. But the trouble with their craft
here, as they confessed, was that Onc-third Of
the hands are idle. They proposed to remedy
that difficulty by driving the work by law out
of the country into the own and fOrbidding
anybody to work more than eight hours a-day
The St0neCuttcrS were followed by n jewcller
named MGregor, who declared himself to be
70 Socialist, not Il Communist" and called for
"nO patchwork reform, but n comprehensive
scheme" Mr.. M'Grcgor wished Congress to
limit production. to reduce the hours Of labor
till every man had work, to seize all the ma
chinery OF the country. and work 1T for the
bcnctitof the people. and above all to collect
"stat!stics"-which he was very much sur
pri,ed to learn that the Government has
been doing regularly ever since 1870. He said
he did not believe in God, and there was no
religious liberty In this country any way
and he added, In n whisper, THE working
man Is n sInnuldcring volcano; I tell you
there Is danger.". \ delegate from tho Social
istic I.abour Reform party, who is u cigar ma
k,r when he ~ not occupied as u statesman,
demanded on behalf Of the party that Gov.
ernmcnt should take all industries whatever
under It's control, and conduct them on the
cooperative plan. All private capital must
be abolished. and no machinery must remain
in private hands.
A. a. Cnrscy was n representative Of tho
Grcenback party I'D politics, and q "brick-lay.
or and editor in private life. He though,
there could be no prosperity without an In:
fiation of prices, and he wished Government
10 give every man q farm, and stock IL fol
him, and TO make work by opening q vast
system of public improvements, and to print
money enough to pay for them. Hedcmanded
also a slight extension OF the protective sys-
tenn.
Another representative said III would tax
all the churches, he would have nom but $50
cial money" he would make all the world
come into Il sort OF cooperative society mod,
clled on the Shaker community. George w
Maddox, who Is a leader In nearly all the Ia
bOur agitations. called for the issue of thou
sand millions OF paper money annually fol
public improvements, and had no doubt tina
these issues would be worth par, or even ap
per cent. all over Europe, He demanded alst
that the power OF making laws should be Ia
ken away from Congress and given t.
Committee. "aremy ~servants-are the peoples
servants. The great mistake we made was te
set you up as our supcriors." There was a H.
dy ofadvanccd ideas who represented TWEEN
est cure for the distress of the laboring CLASSES
was female suffrage. There was Il roaring ret
hot Irish,nan who represented his own SOW
crcign SELF" and proposed to solve everything
by repeating the Patent laws. There was
tailor who wanted to abolish Congress, thu
Executive, and the Judiciary. and let the pco
pie take care OF themselves" a strong feel
ing was manifested against European Shy
IOCkS., lilCIc Scclntu 10 DC ~ " lucSpTeaO no
ton that 1t was a great shame, a wrong to tn,
working man, to allow foreigners to LEM
money to Americans. There WIS an earncs
demand for the repeal of all laws intended II
secure the repayment Of loans. as well as 70
q general abolition of in~tcreSt-intcrest, q
course. being always referred TO as "b!o9d
money Or u$ury. Steamships. Chimes
cheap labonr. and railroads were also dc
nOUnced as the causes OF great SuftrriaG: AM
1t was proposed that the steamships SHOULD
be taxed FOR the benefit of lahour," and the
railroad made free to all and supported by
the Government. One orator wished Con
lars; and another thought the world woult
roll on all right il the United States Govern
ment would issue to every ~irhabitant jus
81 d~Ollars-ncitller more or less.
1t Is noticeable that nearly all those agita
tors had q firm faith in unlimited paper MOI
cy, and a great objection to the payment @
any debts. One and all they look upon cap
tai rs their natural enemy which must b.
taxed. crushed, appropriated, or othcrwis
a,saiied by the general Govern mcnt. On
and all they demanded 81 centralized Govern
mcnt-nIOst Of them said Il J. trong centralise
Government land they entertained a heart
contempt FOR any sort Of constitutional lin
t%.tiOns. They freely admitted that there wa
an excessive supply of labour In nearly a
trades, but not one asked that other avenue
of employment should be opened for Amer
production should be artiiicially checked, c
that Government should make work-fo
each man thckind he preferred to do. An
nobody was willing to work hard. For III
first two or three days the cry was for cigN
hours work, but lattcrly they reduced 1t t
six.
The real working men were not heard 9
these sittings. Mr.. Hewitt called for then
but they did not come. They have nothin
to say 10 Congress they have no crazy thee
ries to PROFOUND, no special demands I
make; they do not know what they wan
but they are poor. and diShcartened with tn
long years OF patient waiting, and they ar
ready to believe what these wild agitatol
tell them, that the cause Of their miserics
Legislation shaped for the protection OF til
rich and against the interest Of the poo
They leave others To guess Mt the chuScs
hard times, and to invent the rem. dics an
we cannot but think 1t fortunate that jus
, now, when %dcmasogncs, like California kea
ncy, and political scherncrs like Ccner.
Butler are rushing to each others arms. tn
remarkable exhibition should be made
the leaders whom the working classes hav
been halfinclined to follow. Their project
:. seem Il great deal more ridiculous when the
are hung up in public for observation an
comparison than probably they do in the 81
clusion Of their society meetings.