, 1879-08-10

lerce IN uenDuncing the condition OF AIarS IN II
United States Ut the hopeless condition OF thu
labor from which they escaped oy fmmisratin9
this Republic. and open their eyes anew to th
SUPERIOR position :of. the workln@uen Of til
| country. It will show our native work,ngmcn th
difference between labor disfranchissd. imposel
1shei,: degraded. and honeIesa, in Europe, an
| labor. Tree. independent, honorable, AMI an cqus
sharer in political power, in America"
J. These statistics do not tell tha whole story
In the first place, ths figures upon which tn
comparison was based vera probably thos
OF year or two, when compensation was o
the minimum. The wages then paid in tn
more depressed ira des, such as building
iron-1naking, canal-digeing, and common
labor, have been increased in proportion a
business in such branches has revived ant
improved, while wages Of nearly ill kinds il
european countries have continued to de-
! cline. In the next place, America has al
! abundant supply of food, offers free home.
steads to settlers, aud furnishes ample re-
sources for living even during commercial
depression, while an overcrowded popula-
ton, an oppressive land.system, and we'll
worn soil has Increased the cost of living in
most European countries, along with de-
crease in pay and in employment at any
wages. Let the Irish, German, Pole, Bo~
hemlan, and Scandinavian laborer revert to
his former life when he is supposed to
echo the absurd platitudes of some spouting
Communistio leader about the ss ssslavery Of
his present condition" and see by compari-
son whether he has reason for his fault-tind-
ing and abuse Of this country and its indus
trial system.
There is certainly infinitely more excuse
for the desperate discomfort among the
lnboring classes in Europe, which manifests
itself in strikes, riots, and Communistic
demonstrations, than there is for the same
classes in this country, and yet the labor
troubles abroad only increase the sufferings
Of the laborers. It is manifestly insane to
make comparative prosperity the pretext for
agitation which makes even misery more
"retched- The advantages which the for
eign laboring people of this country enjoy
over those of the countries they came from
should rather prompt them to make the
most Of their greatly bettered opportunities,
to discourage the attempts to divert them
from their work and keep them in perpetual
conflict with their employers, to cultivate
habits OF temperance aud frugality, and to
better their own condition and that Of their
offspring by steadfast corporation in the
further development Of the country's re-
sources and enlargement Of its industries.
The "gate-money" demagogues advocate
precisely the opposite policy. They seek to
excite the foreign workingmen to make war
on capital, !. e., on their employers H.
terests, which, if successful, will de- !
stroy the advantages this country gives
them and place them upon plane
with the struggling masses of Europe. The |
demagogues would have them embarrass in- |
austry with arbitrary trades-union theories |
that place the proyident and improyident,
the sklllful and unRHllful, the sober and the
7issolute, upon the same dead-1evel. The |
advise then, to reduce produc-
ion by reducing the hours Of labor, and shut
1T American products from successful COM
petition with those of other countries by ex-
|cting ten hours pay for eight hours work
Ehe demagogues encourage them to contrib
1te their savings to gate-money, and beer,
nd games, and howl about oppression when
hose savings are thus dissipated. The
ensible and rejecting worlzingmen will turn
way from these vicious counsels and fnd
mp1e consolation for fictitious "oppres-
ion " in the contemplation Of the actual suf-
sr1ng they escaped when they quit their na~
We homes.