The Labor enquirer., 1884-09-06
FACTS AND FIGURES,
AS Given by !. B. Stuart in His
Lecture on Wednesday,
August 20.
a Plain Statement of Truths, which
Should b Read and Studied
By All.

The following is the speech Of 7. 3
Stuart Is delivered at q public meeting 0
the Carpenters' union, at City hall il
Denver. on August 20, 1884:
Mr.. CHAIRMAN AND lGEsTLEMEN-T -Ther'
ever has been, and possibly ever will be
9 struggle between capital and labor. I
does not follow that because q natior
has much wealth that its people art
happy or even prosper6ns. That natior
is the best that requires just distribu
ton of the product of labor. The $4S,
0O0, ,0O0, 600 Of wealth that we have to day
is the combined product of the labor O.
this nation, and still the men that have
the most Of it never produced single
dollar.
Out of the 55,OOOO0O that constitute
our present population, but lS,O00,O0
are producers and 16,0Oo,0OO of these dc
not obtain for their own use, from theil
labor, more than $500 per year each.
We nave one land owner to every
family of eleven persons, while France
to-day has land owner to every family
of from three to four persons.
4 / hope i am not inclined to be an
alarmist but may / ask, is there not more
in the particular way in which this
country has developed in the last few
years, to excite fear than there is to ex-
cite pride r V.
The lesson taught us in the records OF
the past is, that that government only
can expect lasting perpetuityS that has
for, its object the continual lifting up,
sustaining and elevating Of its humber
classes, its producers. ,.ss
Parasites are found wherever we look
into natural history. and as to whether
they should be restrained, and if SO. how
far, in their consumption of the producer
and his product, is the serious question
on which must hang the welfare and
happiness of every people,
The drones in the hive simply eat and
live, but how strange ii would be if we
should find them appropriating to their
own use all the wealth of the workers
and denying them sufficient to properly
maintain life. rl. ..3 .- q
Before looking at your present con di-
ton let US go back and view the question
of labor by the lamp of history. In it
perhaps we may find much of encour-
agemeut and be led to hope for hap
pier future. -. .a III gs&.,zIt.
We are told that those that fell into
the hands of the Grecians and Romans
through the fortunes or misfortunes OF
war, were made slaves and producers,
and at last their native producers became
but little better than slaves. The classic
remains of Athens and Rome, the pyra-
mids of Egypt and the wall Of China are
the products of slave labor. ..t..
Looking into the laws of England, as
early as 1860, We find labor laws or laws
by which the wages of carpenters and
others were fixed, and provisions to the
effect that they might be Jailed if they
did not work for those prices. They also
appeared, even at that early day, to have
associations OF societies of carpenters, for
the law strictly prohibited them. 1t also
provided that a carpenter leaving his
work and going to another town might
be arrested and imprisoned and upon the
Judgment of the Justice he might be
burnt in the forehead with the letter 'F''
in token of his falsity to his master.
What think you of law that forbids
any man or woman laborer departing
form one hundred into another without
bearing express permission therefor un-
der the kings seal. p al
In 1928 we find the old law remodled.
The justices were allowed to fix the
prices for which carpenter should work
and we again find strict provisions
against what is called the annual con-
gregations and confederacies of laborers.'
In 1914 another statute was passed
regulating the wages to be paid carpen-
tiers and others and fixing the hours Oh
work, and even the time to be given to
the summer day sleep Of the laborer.
In 1880 we find very severe statute
against indolent carpenters. 1t provides
that these derelict individuals might be
whipped until, in the language of the
statute, ahis body be bloody by reason Of
such whipping If he still refused to
work, the upper part of the gristle of the
right ear was to be cut of, and if hestill
refused to work, he was to be executed
as felon.
Still later, by. a statute, a carpenter OF
Iaborer who Ioitered or wandered about,
might, on conviction, be branded with
the letter "Y" (for vagrant | supposed, OF
if he should run away from his master
he might, apon the Judgment Of the jus
tices, be branded with the letter $50 OF
his forehead or the ball of has cheek
and be adjudged to be the masters slave
for life.
The masters of these slaves were au
thorized to put ring ofiron about thei
neck or leg to prevent them from run
ming away.
In 1862 the law was again changed
By this statute the Justices were to Fl,
the wages of carpenters and other la
borers annually. It appears that abou