The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1885-06-17

/ am here as a man. l hope, small in stat
ure butt with the elements OF manhood.
Applause. Read the history OF your
country, and this is the lesson it teaches
you; that two epoehs have passed: One
| OF those was in 1877, when unarmed work
ingmen with folded hands stood in the
streets of Pittsburg, aye, in Scranton, too,
as some OF you know, stood and were shot
down by muskets in the hands of those
thatrepresented aggregated wealth. That
TT taught us two things; first, that there
was a level below which the wages paid to
labor could not be forced, and second, out
of all the flame and smoke against the
calm, clear sky OF Heaven, stood the fact
that the great living issue OF our American
social system was the proper solution OF
the labor problem. That epoch passed
away. We come down to 1S85-only eight
vars, but things move fast in these latter
days. We move faster than our ancestors,
| and yet we go at a snail's pace compared
with what our posterity will know and en-
joy. The next epoch is in 1885 in the
Hooking valley. There, both sides had
arms in their hands, the one representing
organized capital, the other representing
organized labor,
DETERMINED TO DEFEND ITS RIGHTS
even though the hearts best blood bap-
tiled the effort. The guns were fired in the
air and only a few men killed. They were
"only miners" SO we wont mention them
they were only Ignorant working men,"
| But when the third epoch comes the guns
will be pointed straight, and the men that
hold them will know how to shoot! Do
not let me be misunderstood. Let me for
tify myself in this way. l do not believe
that the torch OF the %incendiary, or h dag
ger of the assassin is needed to solve the
labor question. l can find an excuse, / am
willing to say, for Nihilist in Russia because
he has to meet brute force with brute force.
| sympathize with the Socialist in Germany
because by the intelligent light. Of that ag-
itation he seeks to throw off the yoke Ofop-
preston. But here in America we do not
need the bomb, or the torch or the dagger,
because in America the ballot is the free
mans bomb. If every man here not in our
organization will but come in and join, you
will nave a power SO strong that you will
never be attacked. (A%pplause).
1t is reasonable to suppose that | would
hardly 60 up to Mr.. Sullivan OF Boston and
slap him in the face. 1t would not be dis
Greet for me to do it perhaps. (Laughter).
Well, now, my friends
AGooD, STRONG, POWERFUL
organization is a sort of Il John l.. Sulli-
a and Jul employers know when you
are strong in an organization just as well as
you do yourselves. There are two kinds OF
strength, the strength OF numbers and the
strength of union. You may have every
miner in the camp and be powerless, if you
meet in your lodge rooms. And yetit is
necessary that every man in the camp
should De in the organization. And why?
Because there should not be any towards.
Certainly there is no man here so cOwardly
as to wish his fellow men to bear all the
burdens and then he sneak in and reap the
fruits. Suppose the time should come that
a reduction was proposed i'll the wages In
yonr camp. What would it mean? 1t
would mean disaster ito you, disaster to
your camp. In the near future a very grave
question is to be settled in this coun-
try. ! referred briefly to it the other day
and | feel it my duty to mention it again
here tonight. Every silver mine in this
camp is liable to be closed by the acts OF
the next Congress. You know that as well
las l know it. Why Because those same
grasping, grabbing usurers cannot handle
silver as well as they can handle gold.
There is so little gold they can get it into Il
a snug heap, grasp it all themselves and
compel all the world to pay them tribute.
Hence the fat hath gone forth that
THE COINAGE OF SILVER
must be stopped. Why must it be stopped?
q uSU III ~ hftN W MINIS vi yin '
one for the rich and the other for the poor.
They were so anxious to have coin in which
to pay the debts OF the Government. Let
us give them coin, and insist they shall take
coin made by them-gold and silver. Be
up and doing! l will suggest one way: Let
every man in YOU camp sign a petition to
Congress against this action. Ask every
other camp in America to sign it. Ask the
grand army of labor everywhere to rally to
W. ,,r c,,~ NY ut aud than lot .N,n innI who
employ us understand for the first time, if
they have never realized it before, that
their interests and ours are reciprocal, and
that we can help them in an emergency
better than they can help themselves. But
to return to machinery. The first effect of
the introduction of machinery is to de-
grade labor by the subdivision Of labor.
And | don'tmean by this that am opposed
to machinery, because if there wasn't any
iron horse, for instance, | should nave to
take the trail back to Massachusetts,, and
God only knows when Ishould get there, be-
cause / am not a walker from Walkerville.
Laughter So ! believer machinery. The
fault is not in the machine itself. 1t is with
the ownership Of the machine. Blu when
cooperation dawns upon the land; when
every man through cooperation is his own
employer, and when every man through CO.
operation is his own employe, then labor
Will own UlG nlacl1ne, ana uncn
MACHINERY WILL BLESS MANKIND,
just the same as the man blesses mankind
who causes two blades ofgrass to grow where
only one grew before. | can stand here at
your telegraph office and in less than five
minutes can lave Il dispatch in my home
in Marblehead, because the electric spark
has been taught to do the bidding OF man.
Well, this is wonderful, yet it's first effect
has been to degrade labor by subdiyiding
labor in the manner | nave explained, and
the most cruel effect of the whole is that
the labor of women and little children com
petes and oftentimes triumphs in the com
petition with the labor of men. 1t does
not take the employer long to learn that Il
certain piece OF machinery car be run just
as well by a child as it can by a man. Thu
girl or boy must be hired because it is
cheaper. The man must work at child's
wages or join the grand army Of tramps
moving up and down the land. | never
believed that under that providence by
which God rules men that the burdens of
this life were ever intended to rest on the
shoulders of women and little children. |
believe that the husband and father not
only can but will, if given an honest days
pay for an honest days toll, earn enough
that day comes and labor gets a just
share of the wealth it creates, we will take
the woman and place her where she belongs
as
QUEEN OF THE HOME.
We will take the girl and boy and place
them where they ought to be, in the public
schools. and in the vacancy thus created in
the ranks OF labor we will find room for the
employment OF every idle man in the Lane
at mans wages. Now this don't touch you
here, but it is a vital question to us in the
East, where it is impossible for the head of
the family to earn enough to support his
wife and his children, and he has to take
the wife and child into the factory to earn
enough to keep the wolf from the door.
| have not the time to touch as l would
like on these different branches, child labor
and less hours of labor. When WAS down
at Virginia City, Nevada, three years ago,
they told me they used to work three shifts
each day. don't know why this could not
be amicably arranged so that you could do
the same here. [Applause.] venture the
assertion you would get Just as much ore
out OF these mines, working eight hours, as
you can now under the exhaustion of
twelve, and if the change was made every
man would be put IN his honor to render
an honest equivalent for the wages paid.