The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1878-03-14
Store Orders.

RUAY 26.
Mr. FARLEY, 1 do not desire to
discuss this bill at length, but must
confess that L am somewhat aston
ished at this motion being made to-
day on the ground that the bill may be
passed and sent to the Senate to see if
that body cannot make good bill out
of it. am astonished to see lawyers
gentlemen whom know to be well
informed in the law, advocating the
passage of bill which strikes at the
very foundation of the right of con-
tract. From the time of the forma-
ton of our government to the present
time that has been held as q most
sacred right between man and man.
L will admit that at one time when
we had class of laborers in this
country who were owned by those
who worked them as they pleased,
this class of laborers were denied the
right of contracting and were only
subject to the will of their masters.
But that condition of manhood passed
away and forever. Human slavery is
wiped from our statutes and no longer
curses our country. But now we are
asked to pass law prohibiting free
men who earn their bread by the
sweat of their brows from going to
their neighbors and making acontract
for their labor. We are now asked to
pass bill to prohibit man who de-
pends for his livelihood upon his daily
labor from taking, if he sees fit to do
so, bushel of potatoes or any other
commodity for his service. Sir, it is
striking death blow to labor. 1t is
establishing system which the labor
ing men do not ask for. They say,
''for Gods sake allow us to make our
own contracts" Iknow that, in some
portions of the Commonwealth there
are abuses, but also know that there
is no law upon the statute books of
this Commonwealth to-day that is not
evaded-that is entirely ef1icacious in
preventing mischief. The bill which
we are now asked to pass is evidently
unconstitutional. Every lawyer upon
this floor must be aware of that fact.
1t is bill which violates the funda-
mental principles of justice. If, in
deed, these laboring men have had a
jury pass upon their condition ofmind,
which has declared them incapable of
making contracts, then let them have
guardians appointed, for this bill pro-
ceeds upon the theory that the labor
ing men have not sufficient intelli-
gence to make contracts. But, I tell
you the laboring men of this Com
monwealth are fully as competent to
make contract as any other class of
people in this State or any other State.
1 have had miners working for me-
l am not interested in mining now,
although I employ some men-and 1
.have had a committee of laboring men
wait upon me and implore me to fur
nish them the necessaries of life, for
the reason that they could not wait
until they received their pay; that
they must have something upon which
to support their families. 1t isnot my
purpose nor my motive to oppress the
laboring men. On the contrary, L
would make it a misdemeanor for any
merchant to take one farthing more
for goods on an order than he would
sell for cash. I would vote for any
law calculated to put a stop to that
abuse, but l will not vote for bill
which robs the laborer of his privil-
eges as an American citizen-which
takes from man who earns his daily
bread by the sweat of his brow the
power of making such contracts as he
sees fit. This bill know is not de-
sired in any portion of this State, un-
less it may be in some of the anthra-
cite regions. If you wish to do so you
can pass a law remedying the evil
| which exists there, but do not, for
Gods sake, pass bill which will
strike such a blow at the laboring
man as this bill does, for there are
many cases where the laborer could
| not get work unless he made some
contract to take his pay in something
besides money, at least part of it. The
introduction of this bill is an insult to
the intelligence of those who swing
| tha nv onH hapIla tha ,,icE