Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1884-10-22
Hon. F. w. Cook.

ney-G General, addressed large mum
Der of voters at the Opera House, OF
the political issues of the day.
Mr.. Cook made an able argumen
in favor of the Fusion ticket. 1t wa
free from the disgusting persona
abuse such as is common with Repub
lican speakers. Laboring men who
heard the speach must have been con
WINGED of the insincerity of the Re.
publican party, as regards its pro
LESSONS of friendship to the laborer.
| Mr.. Cook said that as long as the
workingmen allowed other persons to
think for them, they would be mis-
lead. 1t had become the duty OF
laboring men to think for themselves
He asked them to pause and think
what was the cause of the present
hard times, for although nature had
been bounteous and the grain bins
throughout the country were over
flowing, yet majority of the people
were not over thirty days from the
hideous she wolff of starvation.
Two years ago the Republicans had
promised good times would come if
they were retained in power, but it
was very evident they had not kept
their word. IF there was any hostil-
ity between capital and labor, unjust
laws were the principal cause of it,
and the Republican party was re-
sponsible for such laws.
He did not blame the man for
taking advantage of the system; it
was the system itself and the party
that upheld it that he condemned.
He did not agree with communism,
but all laws that we're unjust or af-
fected the people unequally, should
be repealed.
Free trade he did not believe in,
but wanted the tariff taxes so adjust
ed as to bear equally on the people.
Necessaries of life should have the
tariff taxes taken off them. The
poor had to have the necessarics of
life and should have them as cheap
as possible. The rich could afford
to pay the tariff taxes on articles of
Injuries, as they were not necessary
to sustain life. The change in the
tariff system should come gradual so
as not to infict serious injuries on
manufactures. 1t was unjust to the
people to take more from them in
taxes than was needed to pay the hon
est expenses of the government. He
did not believe the Republicans would
give the people any relief from the
unequally adjusted tariff taxes. as
their nominees for congress were the
stiffest kind of protective tariff men.
Republicans had blowed about an
eight hour law, but that party
had refused to grant ten hour
law in Michigan, and they also
refused to enforce the eight hour
law in the departments controlled by
them, where it had remained dead un-
til the Democrats and Greenbackers
had established Labor committee.
IF the Republican party favored the
laboring classes their Senate would
have passed the bills favorable to Ia
Dor, but that body of millionaires had
filed the labor bills, passed by the
Democrats and Greenbackers in the
lower house, out of sight, where the
bills would remain until Gabriel blow
cd his trumpet, unless Republicans
were driven out of power. The bill
principally referred to was the one
that forbid importing pauper labor.
Blaine, the mouthpiece of the Repub-
lican party, had denounced foreign
pauper contract labor, in his letter of
acceptance, and yet the records show
that the Republican Senate had cow
ardly lodged the question by burying
it out of sight in the official files.
Why did they not pass it? Because
the Senate was full of millionaires
who had made their fortunes by not
passing such bills. The Republicans
had fed the people on promises for the
last 20 years, but the people had
grown poor on such food.
He denounced the present system
of convict labor in the State prison.
1t was wrong to hire out the criminals
at about 40 cents per day, and then
have free labor compete with them in
the markets. The State should have
the benefit of the convict labor and the
profit turned into the contingent fund.
Republicans had killed the bill which
was intended to put an end to forcing
free labor to compete with convict Ia
Dor.
The system whereby convicts were
brought from other States, placed in
the Detroit House Of Correction, and
made to compete with free labor, was
denounced. The only convicts allow
ed there should be from Michigan.
He then showed how the Republi-
cans in the Michigan State Legisla-
n