Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1878-08-08
our HORNY HANDED TEACHERS.

OUR HORNY HANDED TEACHERS.
Are the the ones Qualified to 1caci. liz
What are the ~Country'a Needs.
Chicago Times 9th
The great work which is probably detained
TO transmit the efiulgent political glory Of
liable of recorded time consisted in the ap-
pointment of two committees of inquiry, one
known as the Potter committee. and the 9TH
er the Hewitt committee. The mission Of
the frat was twofold: l, To find out what
was the matter with the democratic party.
2. To report what had better he done about
it. The mission of the second was also two
fold: /. To find out what ails the following
trampo Of the horny hand. {. To report what
can be done to mitigate his bowling.
The Hewitt committee is nov prosecuting
its inquiries among the horny handed com.
munists in New York. The mode of pro-
ceedings is to invite the chiefs of the horny
handed to come forward and state their griev-
ances. Pursuing this mode, the committee
has in two sittings discovered that.the griev-
ances of the horny handed, aud the reme-
dies for them, are many and various. For
example:
H. Kompe: Grievance, lack of means to
publish q book on the labor question. Rem
edy, a public tax for the relief of II.
Kompe.
2. George Washington Maddox, grievance,
society wrongly constructed. Remedy, re.
construction Of society.
8. Thomas Rock: Grievance, oppression
of stone-masons by the practice Of letting
public work by contract to the lowest bid
der. Remedy, all public buildings to be
erected by workman..i in the place where they
are situated, regardless Of expense.
4. Hugh McGregor: Grievance, "We
are going back to the nomadic condition"
Remedy, "What we want is that govern
ment should be the great employer"
5. Robert H. Bartholomew: Grievance,
machinery, which has tended to diminish
the actual employment of humanity" and
Is "a great curse" Remedy, the annihila-
ton Of machinery.
6. Isaac Bennett: Grievance, machinery,
capital, and too much work. Remedy, the
abolition of machinery, the abolition of ca
pital, and a reduction of the hours of labor.
z. Adolph Doul Called Doctor Doul)
This person had q number of special gricv-
ances. One was the contract system. An
other sprung out of laws for the protection
of capital. A third was the difficulty Of
existing without effort. The remedies he
required were the repeal of all laws for the
protection of capital, the abolition of the
contract system, the establishment of a gov.
eminent "labor bureau" and the removal
of the necessity of working for o living as
to woman. "All widows and women whose
husbands have left them should be cared
for by the city," said Doctor Doual. Fur
thermore, all women should be voters.
8. James Connolly: Grievance, lack OF
%greenbacks to make business lively"
g.. Thomas S. Goodwin's grievance was
the habit of other people to accumulate
money; a habit which was Improper in 9
republican country" Remedy. a tax on
capital large enough to prevent accumula-
ton. 1t was suggested by a member Of the
committee that that would drive the capita.
lists ont of the country. "Let them co.
said Mr.. Goodwin, "and take their capital
with them" The committeeman: "Bu,
countries without capital arc not prosper.
'ous." Philosopher Goodwin: ooh, yes
sir. Look at the islands of the Pacific
They have no capital, and yet their people
are happy and fulfill their Destiny
Such are the grievances, and such tho
proposed remedies brought before Mr.. Hew.
tits committee by come of the chiefs Of til.
horny handed. Upon intelligent readers
their effect probably will be to excite a smil,
of derision. But ought they not, rather, I,
lead all intelligent persons TO some seriou
reflections?
The ideas held by these persons strike IL
as among. the widest yagaries of lunacy
AS those who hold them are not actua
l%unatics, unsafe persons to be at large, thel
it is necessary to regard them as person
afflicted with the most gross and Opaque
ignorance it is possible to imagine. Never
thelesa, they constitute a very numerous
class in every considerable city and town
Though their manifest Ignorance and su
perstition almost transcend belief, the hor-
ny-handcd doctrinaries before the Hewitt
committee were not illiterate persons. AL
of them were Educated" to some extent
One of them read a long essay on the ere
generation OF society," One had written
book on the "labor question" One was
doctor" of some sort. One had evidently
been a deep student Of divinity as well a
philosophy, as appeared from his announce
ment that he did not believe in what wa
called the everlasting and true God. One
had studied politics and political economy
as he let the committee know by presenting
his views on the money question. In fact
all of them were persons who had evidently
enjoyed the advantages of the public-schooI
system. And yet these products of the pub
lic-school system preach, and evidently be
lieve, that machinery is a curse, and CAPT
tai not essential to the country's prosperity
1t is difficult to imagine that any %rationa
being, even without the least schooling
could be SO enormous a Ounce as to suppose
that labor would prosper if capital wer.
driven out of the country. Any bright boy
of half a dozen summers understands that il
he has a jack. knife he could accomplish the
enterprise he has in view much easier than
he can without the aid of that invention. A
~jack-knife would be capital it would in.
crease his capability Of production it
would enhance his prosperity and happi-
ness. He wishes he possessed the capital
called a jack-knife. To acquire ii
he saves up pennies, and thus at q
tender age begins to practice the vice Of
accumulation which tho hornv.handa