Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1884-07-31
Cleveland as Governor.
ACTS WHICH HAVE LID THE woRKINGMEN
10 urrosE HIM so FRIEND TO TIE IA
UpRING CLASS.

Clcycland's signing Of the Roosevelt bill,
taking from the New York board Of alder
men the power 10 confirm the nuWtuatons
of the mayor. was the first blow at Fammany
Cleveland. logically. should have signed all
the reform bills after that bu, he did not.
IL was important, for instance, to complete
the reform IN New York CITY. that the tenure
of office bill should have been signed. and
Cleveland had practically given the reform
ers 10 understand that it would be. but he
vetoed il. Had the reformers supposed that
this bill would not have become law they
could easily have kept the Legislature in
session and would have done so. The veto
Of the tenure Of office act clearly was i'll the
interest Of Hubert o. Thompson, the com
missioner Of puLlc works, the head of the
county democracy and the new member
from New York Of the national democratic
committee. Grover Cleveland sought, by
yetoing this bill in the interests Of Thomp-
son, TO secure the support Of the county
democracy to Offset the detection of Tam
many, and he succeeded. Thompson had u
direct personal interest in the veto Of the
bill, as the governors refusal to approve It
retains him IN most valuable office, the
management of which by several investIga-
tions was reported TO be eNtraragant and
Inefficient. if not corrupt.
Then there was the Veto of the Five Cent
Elevated Railway Fare bill. There are
other ,etoes Of which they very bitterly and
justly complain Chief among them is the
bill relative to prison contract labor Cltve-
land had inimated that he would use every
effort to secure the passage of this bill 1t
l,., Il i.t-
zatIon> Of New York lie C,iled to meet
their expectations, he also did with Ie-
spect to the bill curtailing the hours Of labor
Of worklngmrn on street railroads, The bill
regulating the employment Of children ana
the Mechanics Lien law. The bill restrict
lng the number Of hours Of labor to he re-
quIred Of street railroad employees TO twelve
per day was certainly reasonable meas
urt.
Yet Governor Cleveland chose to veto IL.
The bill was supported by the Trades As
sembly and hl all the working classes, and
it is not to be forgotten that there are four
thousand vorkingmen connected with the
street RAILWAYS IN New York and BROOKLYN
and they located for the most part in
doubtful districts The Mechanics Lien law
was demanded hv workingmen. hv the
Knights Of Labor and opposed only by a
few Speculaiors and capitalists Moreover
It was IN the main proposition To extend
70 the State at large law which had al
ready operated successfully as a local meas
urr in Butia'n and Brooklyn. The Veto Of
the cbiid-laboJ b.ll seems unjust.tiible on
any gruunt aid i essentially brutal and in
human. The bill simply forbade the EN-
p.DVMent of children under ten wears of age
and prohibited any child under fourteen
from being empiolcd who had not received
twenty weeks anruil schooling.
The measure was earnestly supported bv
the State Society for tie prevention of
Cruelty 70 Children and wa, ln.arssd hy
tie Labor Mon. Iae veto is SAID 10 have
been inspired hS several inluenu- demo-
cratic State Senators, among them Nurphy
Plunkctt and Jacobs, who we're Led To
induce the Governor to veto it bv several
large monopoly firms in their districts who
arc large empowers of child labor and who
have since heen very active supporters Of
Governor Cleveland. From these facts it
may be clearly understood that the organ
ized labor of the country will not vote for
Cleveland. The object Of these working
mems societies is not political. 1t is amell-
orajive, but they are conscious of their pow
eI and intend 10 use it to bOycott the candi-
date Of any political party whom they believe
to be an enemy OF labor. and such they con-
slder Grover Cleveland.