The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-09-10
where Labor Is Under the Iron Heel

1t will surprise many people to know
that in this year of plenty there ara
thousands Of people in Pennsylvania
and Ohio suffering from the necessar,
ries Of life.
The dispatches making note Of tbs
arrest of forty or fifty coal miners nssy
California, Pa, state that when tba
men were being loaded in wagons 70 ho
conveyed to Jail the wives of fifteen ~
twenty of them with babies in thajr
arms begged the officers to take them
to prison also, for they had nothing 70
eat.
1t will surprise many other people "a
know that in this free country. when
thousands of men quit work becansa
wages have been reduced below tbo
living point and their EMPLOYERS then
import pauper labor, the old WORKING
men have no right to assemble and dc
cuss their wrongs in public.
The dispatches from the Pennsylva-
MIA and Ohio mining regions daily con
tain illusions to the wholesale arrest op
men whose only fault appears 10 bs
that they are poor and are seeking in
the only way known to them to better
their condition.
1t will surprise some other peonle "a
know that many of these MINING Dis
tricts resemble military camps i'm which
imported laborers without families ~
marched around under warlike qnsras
while the displaced wOrkingme2 wifi
helpless women and children. gauntI
faced and hollOw-eyed, ciinripg ~
them, stand by sullenly.
Yet the dispatches from the yariopV
mining towns of Ohio daily contain
some such sentences as this: "A mill
tary guard knocked one aged striker
down and broke his right arm"
1t will touch some hearts in this
great West where the barns are burSt.
ing and the golden sheaves are piled
high in every field to know that the free
distribution of a cup of coffee and dry
bread to q camp of four or five hun.
bred idle miners in Pool No. 4, Penn.
sylvania, called out deliriOus eXpres.
sions of Joy from the half-famished
men,
A telegram from Pittsburg sa.cs that
when this poor feast was in pTopreTS
one old man, bent almost dr0ble wifi
age and toll, laid his miserable morSel
ON the ground while he sang with
streaming eyes and trembling voice:
Hard Tlmes Coming Again No More
These are protected industries.
THESE men are the ones whom our pol
iticians tell US they ennOble by tariff
legislation. These hungry stricken
and pale-faced women and children
begging for Imprisonment if so be a
bring bread are the falnihesof the pro
tected Worklngnlen Of whom We hear
so much These thousands of idle
men standing around watching import
cd laborerS who work under the pro
lection of cleaning rifles are the work.
ing men whom the tariff is levied TO
enrich. These sleek employers who
I'LL the place of strikers so easily with
importations are the men
who contribute to maintain campaigR
organs which preach lies and circulate
falsehoods and which claim to be labor
ing only for the w0rkingmen's good.
Out here in the West these thou
sands Of prosperous and comfortable
farmers whom one sees on every hand
are not protected. No one passes laws
to dignity and ennoble them, These
and masons and railroad Ia
Dorers are not protected, but they have
enough to eat and 10 wear. Hunger,
want, and idleness come to none Of
-hese, They are in enjoyment of the
of life in spite of "prOtec-
ION which taxes them 40 per cent On
most OF the things which they are com,
'elled to buy,
A tariH TefOrmer need not be afraid
o lnNlte a comparison between the
lrotectionist East and tho free trade
Vest. The record is 0pen.-CAiop
Herald,