The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-10-13
reeeher on the worklnsnen Of wheeling.

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neeeher on tho Workingmen of Wheeling
inielltonor, 0tioItrli. '95, =. =,
The lscv. Henry Ward Beecller, who Il
so loudly shouting for Cleveland and TO
free trade, visited Wheeling in 1870, ant
made tour OF some OF our mills. TheI
hc wrote letter to tho Christian Unio,
from here, which on It's face contained
lalsehood and which was IN insul. Il
American labor. 1t was printed in tha
paper May II, 1870, aud is us follows:
| "NoTEs ny THE Way"
Editorial Counpondeaet. -
aside from It's vapor and smoke, Wheel
Ing Is pleasant city and full OF enterprise
We visited with great interest, n nail fac.
tory, perhaps the largest in the country.
II turns out seven thousand hundred.
pound kegs Of nails week. a
There arc employed Of all kinds about
seven hundred men in the various depart
mcnts, and the average wages OF the men
is from thirty.six to thirty.eight dollars n
week, and yet few men lay up anything.
We have, everywhere made inquiry in
large establishments where skilled labor
Is employed, and with comparatively iew
honorable exceptions it is the same way
men earning from from forty TO sixty dol.
lars week spend il all MS they go. 1t was
so in the mines OF California and Neyatli,
1t is 80 in Pittsburgh. 1t is Il fatal fault
with hundreds OF thousands OF intelligent
workmen that they do not organize future
prosperity, but spend all us they 60, and
when age or sickness, or commercial re-
yulsion lay them aside they are poor in
property and rich only in impracticable
schemes OF reorganization OF society and
distribution of property.
Here are hundreds Of men who live Oh
"a dollar u day" and lay up something
every year; and thousands who earn from
five to ten dollars day, and grow poorer
every year.
When the final adjustment OF the king
dom Of labor shall come, the foundations
OF it will be industry, skill, frugality,
economy, foresight. H. W. B."4,i
Beecher's only object in writing this let
ter seems to have been to rc.enfore the
free trade theory that the workingman is
Just rs well or with low wages, which it
is conceded even by free traders the prac-
teal operation OF free trade must bring, as
with high. lie wanted to make good
argument, so he accused our workingmen
Of spending all they earn, and the infer
ence is that they spent the money in
drinking and riotous living generally.
But he has proved that he was liar
by his very figures. II 700 men made an
average OF $50 week the total pay roll Of
this nail factory must have been So, eco a
week. He says they turned out 1000 kegs
OF nails q week. Nails we're not bringing
more than s. n keg in the spring OF 1879,
and the total receipts from 1000 kegs
must have been not in excess OF $i4GG0.
Taking no account OF the cost oil the iron
with which to make the nails, of superin-
tcndents' salaries, Of thousand and one
other expenses that attach to nail fac
tory, it is plain that the factory was losing
sll 900 week. Every manufacturer and
every empioye knows that no such prices
were paid Or could have been paid at any
time in the history OF the nail industry.
Beecher is at the head and front OF the
free trade agitation Of this country. In
Brooklyn, where the movement is stronger
than in any other American city, he is the
apostle Of the agitators. Yet it is plain MS
day from this letter what he would have
the workingman do. He openly says that
the workingmen can save money on a
dollar day, and he intimates that it is
Just rs well that he should earn no more.
In his plan for the reconstruction Of the
kingdom OF labor he offers no attraction
for the workingnan. There is no show
for him to get on save through, Industry,
skill, frugality, economy and foresight"
These attributes Involve no faculty not
possessed by half the brute creation. The
beasts Of the field have them.
Bcecher does not provide ,,for any in
tcllectuaI effort on the part Of the man
who tolls. Hctoes not propose that he
shall do anything to lift him $ont ofthe
;s]ongh: He; wants him to get down 10
the hard pan OF dollar a day and struggle
to live by the exercise OF Industry, skill,
frugality, economy and foresight" That
is the way .Beecher and the free traders
would have the workingmcn live. This
is their explanation OF how the working
man must live TO compete with English
labor, which to-day is the most degraded
labor on the face Of the globe.
What do the thousands OF workingmen
in Wheeling think Of this programme
rs outlined by one Of the most able free
traders in the United States.
S. Wall Street In Ohio. lsr
Mo York Dispatch 10 CnciEnaii Enquirer oe'. IL.
a well-known railroad man is said to
have sent to Ohio within the last twenty
four hours 100000 Democratic money