The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-03-11
THE WORD OF ONE WHO KNOWS.

VerSy. IL d1d not come from q pald attorney
in the interest of monopolistic manufacturers,
but from one Of a delegation Of laborers in an
Ohio ~rolling-mill. The evidence offered by
Thomas Williams, an iron puddler, was of a
character that must command credence. The
figures and theories of experimentalists must
give way before this plain mans evident
knowledge by actual experience. He was re
Gently a laborer in English mills,
and knows of what he speaks. This
man Williams and his fellow-laborers are not
Robert P. Porter. 1t cannot be urged that
they are paid to furnish data in favor of pro-
lection. Neither have they any ak to grind,
for they go back to the Ohio mill when
through at Washington. In behalf of them
selves and their fellows all over the country
they appear to protest against the folly of
countenancing free-trade. Mr.. Williams un-
qualiiedly denied that it costs much less to
live in England than here. II deny that, "
actual experience. My board there cost So to
$3.50 a week, and we did not live as the la
borers of this country do. For breakfast the
English laborers get bread and butter and a
cup Of tea. Dinner is composed of bread and
meat; and if they get an egg with their tea in
the evening they consider it extravaganza.
There are many women at work in the mills
of England, also. They do the unloading of
coal, and are kept at other pnskilled
The Journal has always maintained that
the actual condition of American laborers is
incomparably better than that of men in the
same employment in England. The case of
Williams, and tens of thousands like him, is
proof of the assertion. They have voluntarily
left England to enjoy the advantages offered
by the United States. The proof of the pud-
ding is in the eating of it is a homely adage.
The American industrial pudding has long at
tracted men from all parts of the world. The
ingredients are richer than in any set before
the men of Sheffield and Birmingham. The
egg is ON the American laborer's table, and
the meat is there oftener than on that of any
other lands workingmen. .a "
Mr.. Williams does not stop after demolish-
ing the "cheaper living" of England. He
try and those of free-trade England. At
Youngstown, O., he says, the puddlers make
$3.50 out of the same amount of work that
English laborers are paid $1.25 for. Sum
ming it up, he declared that the laborers at
Youngstown get at least three times as much
money for their work as those in England,
and their living costs them about the same.
Here is N intelligent laboring mans expe-
rience, and he is so interested in
maintaining what he believes to be the
cause of these advantages in America
that he takes the trouble to expostulate
against the idea of striking dow the law that
has made these things realities. There is no
fne-spun theory in what he says. He prob
ably knows very little about the logic of Mill
and the various expounders of the doctrines of
lIt6 IdlS. L OIlJ hIONS ulldG IL COolS dDOuJ
as much to live in England as in America,
and that in America he receives at least three
times as much money as in England for the
same amount Of work. 1t will be
useless to come at him with figures
drawn from statistics. He knows, because
he has been there. He has sat at a laborer's
table, and has bought the food to supply it. A
dozen professors of political economy couldn't
persuade him that he is mistaken when he
SAYS he eats meat much oftener now, and
knows what it is to have an egg for tea, be-
cause he is much better able to afford what
the English puddler regards as a luxury. The
man in jail sent for a theoretical lawyer and
told him his ~offense. The lawyer g~landilo-
quently declared that they couldn't possibly
put him in jail for that. 'But they have, all
with the experience knows Of what he
testiGes. He knows it so well that the man
who wasn't there" can't tell him much about
it. In face of the fact that laborers come
from all parts of the world to found new
homes in America, it is folly to argue that
they have voluntarily abandoned superior adj
vantages, cheaper living and better wages to
CONF here. If the advantages offered IN
America were not of magnitude, not one man
employed in factory and mill east Of the At