St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-06-09


is run through the tunnel so
far as built, and on this
is drawn cars by q horse, carrying out the
refuse and sand and carrying i'll the crushed
granite cement and other materials. In
this hard sand excavations were made 800
feet i'll advance of the masonry, but now
the tunnel has to be carefully timbered up
as fast as the sand tumbles in to protect the
workmen engaged in constructing the arch.
Said Thomas w. Hawkins. ''We have come
here to do the city good job and intend
to do it, despite our present troubles. |
had rather do hard sand rock at ST. than
wet sand at $50 per foot. The wet sand
rate is S22.97 per foot. We can build the
sewer and do first-class job"
THE CAUSE OF LABOR.
The True Attitude of the knights
of Labor--An Eloquent Address.
Harrison hall was crowded to its utmost
capacity last evening by the workingmen of
Minneapolis, who came to listen to the
lecture Of Hon. Charles FL. Litchman of
Massachusetts upon the Mission of the
Knights of Labor. The speaker proved to
be both fOrcible and eloquent, and talked
with an earnestnesS which showed that his
heart is in the cause which he
represents. Mr.. Litchman has been
a shoemaker at the bench and a membar of
congress; has been general secretary of the
Knights of Labor, and his experience and
opportunity for observation, coupled with
his intelligence, enabled him to address his
hearers as one who knew whereof he spoke,
rather than as a theOrist.- He was intro
duced by j. P. McGaughey, who expressed
his pleasure in presenting one who was SO
well qualified to hurl back the ISLANDERS and
misrepresentation and explain the true at
titude Of the Knights of Labor. In reply,
Mr.. Litchman said it would be an impoSsi-
bility for him to answer all the base insinu-
atiOnS and the lies which had appeared in
the press concerning organized labor, and
expressed the hope that at some day in the
future the workingmen will control the
press as well as the telegraphic and railroad
systems of the country. Concerning the
use OF dynamite as a means, he said the
Knights of Labor believe that the torch of
the lncendiary OF the knife of the assassin
are
NOT NEEDED IN FREE AMERICA.
In the United States is presented the
strange anomaly of a country Astounding in
the resources from which wealth and hap
piness can be produced, with hundreds of
lIGu VIII dlG eager W WOIh Out O1 CLlplOy-
ment, and simply because the great prob
lem of capital and labor is not understood.
Two elements enter into nations pros
perity and distribution, and in these two ell
ements which sometimes clash are repre-
Sented two classes, employers and employees,
the first embracing small number, COM
paTatively, and the latter the great mass of
humanity. The employer believes in level
ing down and the emplOye in leveling up,
that is the difference between them. The
employer, in order to compete with his
neighbOr, will reduce wages under what the
neighbOr pays The emplOye should un-
derstand that if he does this the neighbor
will also reduce the wages in order to COM
pete: This should be resisted; and how?
By organization. John l.. Sullivan may be
able to ''kn0ck out" any single man, but
two or three can, by combining, ''knock
him out" Here is the secret of the power
Of organization plainly illustrated. This
organization must be accomplished
BY INTELLIGENCE AND REASON.
There must be proper education or there
can be no success. WOrkingmen must at
tain perfect knowledge of their trade. of
the cost of the material they work upon.
the relation of production and demand.
Then they can intelligently reply to the
employer who reduces their pay. ''W.
| know as much about it as you do" The
wOrkingmen should, in politics, eight fire
with fire." should pack caucuses if neces-
sary and elect men who will represent them
in the legislature, and thus secure the enact
| ment of
BETTER LAWS.
Mr. Litchman was disposed to give some
Of his experiences in the Massachusetts,
legislature and congress, to illustrate the
utter folly of expecting either of the great
political parties to do anything for the
workingman. He urged the necessity of
laws providing for the adjustment of diff
cultieS between employers and employees
by arbitration, and said the time would
come, if these laws were not passed, when
the WOrkingmen would not stand still to
be shst down by troops called out to pro-
tect the interests of capital. He next went
on to show the
ADVANCEMENT OF THE CAUSE OF LABOR.
A few years ago we would have been
arrested for talking as he did. Now people
would simply call him crank" because
they did not understand him, and were too
Indifferent. After while labor would get
a respectable hearing. He read extracts
from Maj. Grace's address before the Inter
national Typographical union at New York,
in which he had said that the Knights of
Labor gave man ''better body,
better mind and better souls
Mr.. Litchman then went On to
condemn the subdivision of labor in factor
les which prevents man from learning his
trade thoroughly, and the employment of
children who should be at school he con-
demned as the crime of coming the young
hearts blood of little boys and girls into
money for soulless corporations" He
asked also for
EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK.
If woman does the same work as man
she should get the same pay. If women
are allowed to do the work for less money
men will soon be working for women's
wages. In closing he urged all to leave
the world better for having lived in it, and
to leave as legacy for their children bet
ter condition of society in which to live.